


building my dreams (grand romantic schemes)

by trashkingvibes



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: 2021-2022 NHL Season, Career Ending Injuries, Career Ending Injuries (Past), Fake/Pretend Relationship, Hockey Player Nolan, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, Teacher Travis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:35:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 54,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23086912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashkingvibes/pseuds/trashkingvibes
Summary: When said plainly, it did sound kind of stupid. Really stupid, actually. But Travis was just that - very stupid. Yeah, he had a degree in education. Yeah, he’d been a teacher for three years. Yeah, he was intelligent enough to succeed at both of those things.But he was such a fucking dumbass, a sentiment that has been repeated by almost every person in his life.In which there's a meet cute - though maybe not one you'd expect - and a fake relationship - one you'd definitely expect - and Kevin Hayes just really wants his friends to be happy. And Travis? Travis learns to be okay again.
Relationships: Lawson Crouse & Travis Konecny, Travis Konecny/Nolan Patrick
Comments: 270
Kudos: 579





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is 100% a work of fiction and is no way actually representative of individual players. It's purely self indulgent, but luckily most people are all for self indulgence.

Philly in December was cold, rainy, and altogether unpleasant; in fact, if Lawson hadn’t forced him out, there’s no way Travis would have left their apartment tonight at all. 

But Lawson had just taken his last final of the semester, and apparently _ needed _to get plastered, so here TK was. On a bar crawl with his supposed best friend. He’d scoffed when Lawson had brought it up, because they’d never been on a bar crawl in their lives, but had eventually given in. They were on their way to their usual haunt, a place that sold both craft beer and cheap cocktails by the pitcher, and would likely stay there until closing time.

The sidewalk was covered in a dangerous combination of both ice and slush and was bustling with people. Philly residents were pushing past each other and into Travis, who may have been heavier than he looked, but was still barely 5’10”; Lawson didn’t have the same struggles he did, being half a foot taller and about thirty pounds heavier, so he would just have to deal with Travis grabbing on to his coat sleeve to keep his balance. He seemed amused by it, which made Travis want to shove him into the river.

“You were practically born wearing ice skates, aren’t you supposed to be able to deal with ice without falling?” Lawson laughed after a particularly dramatic stumble.

“Skates are made for -” TK stumbled before he could finish responding, grabbing on to his friend again. “I’m not wearing skates.”

Lawson laughed once more as Travis stepped away from him to prove that no, he didn’t actually need a knight in shining armor, thank you very much, but before Lawson could add a snarky comment, a very large body shoved its way past Travis. He didn’t have time to grab on to Lawson, was too busy seeing his admittedly boring life flash before his eyes to reach for his friend. He waited for the crush of his skull against the pavement - had he made peace with God yet?

Except - it didn’t come. His dramatic internal monologue was interrupted by a firm chest, large hands under his armpits, and a deep voice asking if he was okay.

“Yeah, I’m - oh, shit.”

Kevin Hayes - because of course it was Kevin Hayes who stopped him from braining himself on the sidewalk, of course it was the Flyers leading scorer and alternate captain, of course it was one of TK’s favorite players, of fucking course - looked down at him, eyebrows drawn together in concern. “Sorry, dude, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

Of course it was Kevin Hayes that had been the one to nearly knock him over in the first place.

“Had a little too much to drink, dude?” Thank God for Lawson, who apparently could talk around NHL players. 

“I’m perfectly sober,” Kevin Hayes chuckled. He seemed slightly sheepish, like he was embarrassed to have run into a stranger on the street. He was still holding Travis, and it made him feel about three feet tall; he couldn’t find it within himself to be angry about that.

“So you’re just clumsy, then?”

“Not usually, no,” Kevin Hayes responded, righting TK. He tried not to be disappointed. “My friend tried to set me up on a blind date and I’m actually running away from her.”

“Sorry,” TK said, fixing his hat, because apparently he, too, could talk around NHL players - though Lawson told him regularly that he could talk around anyone - “But did you say you’re running from a blind date?”

“Well, power walking,” Kevin Hayes laughed again, rubbing at the back of his neck. What was TK’s life? 

“What kind of date do you have to escape?”

“She was very - insistent. And I don’t like hurting people’s feelings.” Kevin Hayes apparently had TK’s same talent of rambling to strangers. Maybe if Travis was a professional hockey player people wouldn’t be so annoyed by it, but c’est la vie. “So I made up an emergency at home. Told her my roommate needed my help and booked it.”

Kevin Hayes’s roommate being Nolan Patrick. Another of TK’s favorite players, and someone he’d spent a lot of time gushing about to a disinterested - and very heterosexual - Lawson. Again - what the fuck was his life?

Lawson cleared his throat. “Honestly, I was going to pretend that I had no idea who you are and just, not ask for a picture, but since you almost killed my friend -” Travis made a noise in the back of his throat. “- could I have a picture?”

Lawson was in the middle of taking a selfie with Kevin Hayes when Travis decided he was too offended to let that slide and made another noise in the back of his throat. “He didn’t almost kill me, I’m not that fragile -”

Lawson raised an eyebrow in his direction, putting his phone in his pocket. “Teeks, he’s twice your size, he’s bigger than me.”

“Um, yeah and I can bench press you so even if he wasn’t twice my size - which he isn’t -”

“Bud, he’s a foot taller than you,” Lawson laughed.

“- which he_ isn’t _-”

“- is too -” because apparently even though Travis only taught kindergartners five days a week he was best friends with one 24/7.

“- I wouldn’t have brained myself,” TK huffed, crossing his arms.

Kevin Hayes was looking between them with an amused look on his face, like their banter was funny to him instead of annoying, which was the response TK’s rambling usually got. He cleared his throat, tilting his head to make eye contact with Travis. “Can I buy you a drink at least? To make up for almost killing you? I don’t have any plans anymore, might as well.”

“You didn’t almost kill me!” TK yelled as Lawson said ‘Yes’.

“Cool,” Kevin Hayes responded. “It’ll help clear my conscience.”

“There’s nothing to clear,” TK huffed again.

“Humor me.” He paused. “You said - Teeks, right?”

“Travis,” TK sighed, sticking out a hand. “TK is fine, though.”

“Kevin,” Kevin said, shaking his hand. “Though apparently you already know that.” 

Lawson chucked and introduced himself. “We’re pretty big hockey fans.”

“Me, too,” Kevin nodded, shaking Lawson’s hand as well.

“You don’t say,” TK said with a small grin before gesturing around them. “Though, I would like to point out that it is freezing and we are in the middle of the sidewalk. And you’re not exactly an easy man to miss.”

“But if we walk, you may slip again,” Lawson said with faux concern.

The glare Travis sent Lawson would kill a man that hadn’t known him since diapers. Or, he’d like to think so. Even though it wasn’t true at all.

“Don’t worry,” Kevin said, offering his arm to Travis. “I’ve always wanted to be someone’s knight in shining armor. I’ll save him.”

“You will single handedly make me a Penguins fan.” TK started ahead of them with a huff. They could catch up.

Because apparently they were getting drinks with Kevin Hayes. Like, that was a thing that was happening.

“You Flyers fans, then?” Kevin asked when they caught up with Travis. He huffed again; damn long legged freaks.

“Huge,” Lawson confirmed. “Trav more than me, because I’ve only been a proper fan since we moved here. We’re from Ontario, so it was all Leafs growing up.”

“I have way too many teammates that grew up Leafs fans,” Kevin groaned, like it was the worst thing in the world. Knowing Leafs fans, it probably was.

“Proper Ontario boys, then,” Lawson replied. “TK was never a proper Ontario boy, so it doesn’t surprise me he’s been a Flyers fan for years.”

TK lifted his nose at that. “It’s not my fault I have taste, Crouse.”

“Tasteful is a word rarely applied to the Flyers,” Lawson countered.

“Ouch,” Kevin said, clutching his chest.

“At least they’re not boring,” Travis continued. “I don’t think I’ve ever watched a Leafs game all the way through. Too busy falling asleep.”

Kevin punched TK’s bicep. There was a possibility he’d leave a bruise; maybe a bruise would help Travis remember that tonight wasn’t just a figment of his imagination. “Man after my own heart.”

Lawson rolled his eyes, but before he could make another comment about the Leafs - TK had heard enough about the Leafs, thank you - they arrived at their destination.

“I’ve never been here before,” Kevin noted before they walked in. 

That didn’t surprise TK. It wasn’t the type of place you’d see millionaire athletes, that was obvious. Sticky floors and a stickier bartop, it looked like any dive bar frequented by college students. But it was cheap and the drinks were better quality than anyone ever expected. 

“It doesn’t look like much -”

“I love it,” Kevin interrupted, a broad grin breaking out on his face. “I bet it’s a great place to get wasted on a Friday night.”

“I’m pretty sure Lawson is planning on getting trashed tonight,” Travis commented. “Maybe he can attest to that.”

“Absolutely,” Lawson nodded. 

“Maybe I’ll have to come back when I don’t have a game the next day,” Kevin hummed. Because he was a professional athlete. With a game against the Washington Capitals tomorrow afternoon.

“It also helps that one of the bartenders has a thing for TK,” Lawson added. “God knows why.”

TK paused in taking his jacket off to let out an offended noise. “Who wouldn’t want a piece of this ass?”

“She always gives us free drinks when she’s working,” Lawson continued, ignoring TK. “TK still hasn’t told her she’s barking up the wrong tree.”

There was a beat; TK could tell Lawson regretted what he’d said immediately, regretted outing TK to a very macho pro hockey player. He knew what Travis had dealt with in school, in the OHL. That being out in the locker room didn’t have the best results. 

Travis didn’t mind, not really. If this was where the night ended, this was where the night ended, and he had yet another player to scratch off his favorite list.

“If I have to flirt with a woman to get free drinks, so be it,” TK barreled on, because he had nothing if not the ability to fill awkward silences.

Kevin cleared his throat and laughed loudly. “Such a martyr, dude."

TK did the sign of the cross as they reached the bar, strange atmosphere lifted. “You alright with sharing a pitcher, bro?”

Kevin nodded, reaching to pull out his wallet. Lawson stopped him with a hand on his arm.

“Travis!” TK winked at Kevin before turning around to lean against the bar.

He heard Lawson whisper something to Kevin behind him, probably along the lines of ‘Don’t laugh’. Dickhead.

“Leanne,” he grinned. “Looking lovely as always.”

And she did, if you liked the whole red lipped, winged eyeliner, woman thing. And TK wasn’t opposed to lipstick and eyeliner, but the ‘woman’ thing was a bit much.

“Oh, aren’t you a charmer,” she said with a giggle, already pulling a tray and a pitcher out, followed by two glasses.

Travis winked. “Just being honest.”

“The usual?” She’d already started filling the pitcher before he’d responded.

“Maybe two, actually. And a third glass, please.”

Leanne looked over his shoulder and noticed Lawson and Kevin, who were probably stifling laughter. Idiots. 

“Of course,” she continued, turning back to Travis. She finished filling the pitchers and waved away the twenty with a wag of her finger. “First round is on me.”

Travis pretended to be surprised and sent her a lopsided grin. “As generous as she is beautiful.”

She leant against the bar. The new angle showed off her - assets very well. Boobs sure were - boobs. “Only the best for my favorite customer.”

“I bet you say that to all the boys.”

“Only the cute ones,” she giggled, tucking her hair behind her ear.

TK laughed and took the tray she handed to him. 

“Don’t be a stranger,” Leanne scolded, wagging a finger again. He smiled widely at her and tucked a five dollar bill into the tip jar before leading Lawson and Kevin away from the bar, ignoring her soft blush.

They got to their usual table, a booth in the back; Kevin slid in first, leaving himself squished in the corner. Travis slid in next to him and passed out the glasses.

“Okay, go on then,” he sighed.

The other two men couldn’t contain themselves anymore and burst out laughing.

“Oh, Jesus,” Lawson wheezed. “‘As generous as she is beautiful’.”

“I really don’t know how she hasn’t figured it out yet,” Travis sighed again. “I sound like such a ‘Gay Best Friend’ whenever I talk to her.”

“For real,” Law laughed. “And you don’t look at her tits nearly enough for it to seem genuine. You’re _ really _bad.”

TK poured himself a pint, ignoring Lawson when he tried to hand him his glass to be filled. “Just because I can pick up chicks and you can’t doesn’t mean you have to be rude about it.”

“Can’t pick up dudes, though.”

“With those lines?” Kevin gasped, faking shock. “What man has a chance?” 

Travis couldn’t believe that Kevin Hayes was teasing him, that an _ NHLer _ was teasing him about his bad luck with men and not making it a Thing. He knew first hand the effects the toxic masculinity of sports had on a locker room, had seen and experienced firsthand homophobia in sports, and Kevin was being refreshingly normal about it. That shouldn’t surprise him; he’d used pride tape and did videos with the Flyers where they stood in front of a brick wall and said homophobia had no place in hockey blah blah blah, but he’d always assumed there was a difference between the Kevin Hayes Flyers TV and the media made him out to be, and the actual Kevin Hayes. It turned out there wasn’t much difference at all.

“You two are very rude,” Travis said, taking a sip of his drink.

“What are friends for?” Kevin snickered, tossing an arm around TK.

Because friends was a thing now, apparently.

“I have way too many stories about you for you to be ragging me this much, bud,” TK said, pointing at Lawson. Kevin lifted his arm from around TK’s shoulders, but left it draped across the back of the booth. For all intents and purposes, Travis was snuggled up against Kevin Hayes. He barely managed to refrain from pinching himself on the thigh.

“Don’t make me tell Kevin about the crush you have on his teammate,” Lawson countered, pointing back.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Travis growled. Lawson just raised an eyebrow at him. “And it’s - it’s not a crush, it’s a perfectly reasonable amount of healthy respect.”

“I have to know who you respect,” Kevin laughed, taking a drink of his beer. 

“Half the team,” Lawson snorted into his drink.

“Oh?” He was still smiling. Again, Travis was half impressed, and more than a little surprised. A gay man talking about a crush - healthy respect! - he had on one of his teammates and all he wanted to know was which one. And he still hadn’t moved his arm; TK would never turn down a cuddle, though.

“Healthy respect,” Travis repeated loudly.

“So it was respect when you spent ten minutes waxing poetry about Carter Hart’s hair?”

TK let his head drop to the sticky table with a groan. “Fuck you.”

“He does have nice hair,” Kevin managed through his laughter, dropping his hand to smack TK on the back. “Very fluffy.”

“There were a lot of metaphors,” Lawson added. He was having way too much fun with this.

“Well, in my opinion, not nearly enough people have crushes on Hartsy. Everyone should have a crush on Hartsy.”

“TK owns about ten Hart jerseys,” Lawson whispered loudly. Travis whined.

“I want a divorce,” Travis told the tabletop miserably. “What kind of best friend throws their bro under the bus like that?”

Lawson rolled his eyes. “Every best friend, Konecny. It’s practically in the job description.”

Travis lifted his head to glare at him. “I hope you’re so hungover tomorrow.”

And he would be, with the way he was putting the beer away. He’d almost finished a pitcher by himself. Travis took spiteful pleasure in that.

“I can swing you both tickets if you’d like,” Kevin said with a shrug. He’d moved his arm back to his side but winked at Travis. “Maybe introduce you to Carts. Get him to sign one of your ten jerseys.”

“I have _ three _Hart jerseys,” TK hissed.

“That’d be awesome, man,” Lawson said, ignoring TK.

“Give me your digits.”

TK groaned even as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and kept groaning as he unlocked it and opened a new contact and groaned even louder when Kevin shoved his phone into TK’s hands in return.

“The real question is...do you have _ my _ jersey?” Kevin asked after he’d handed TK back his phone, leaning back in his seat; he was so big that every time he moved he brushed against TK’s shoulder.

Travis downed what was left of his drink. “Fortunately, yes, so I can go home and burn it.”

“Now who’s being rude?” Kevin yelled after him as he got up to head to the toilet.

“Still you,” he tossed over his shoulder. Because fuck it if he wasn’t going to treat Kevin Hayes the same as any of his other friends.

After he’d finished and washed his hands - maybe he sang the washing your hands song he taught to his students under his breath to make sure he did it long enough, maybe not - Travis stared at himself in the mirror for a long moment. He looked the same, didn’t look like this whole night has changed him as a person or was just a hallucination.

Was this how WAGs felt when they hooked up with players in a club and subsequently married them three months later?

He shook his head. He was hardly WAG material - too much brunette, too much man, too much poor kindergarten teacher - and would never know how that felt. But apparently he knew what it was like to be bros with Kevin Hayes, even if tonight was the only night. He sighed and headed back to the table.

“Are you two done being rude?” he said, sliding back into the booth. He noticed there was a new, full pitcher on the table, the other two gone.

“Actually,” Lawson, who seemed close to achieving his goal of getting smashed tonight, drawled. “I was just telling Kevin about your ten Patrick jerseys.”

Travis was tempted to go to the bar and talk to Leanne for the rest of the night, but just let out a heaving sigh. “I have _ two _ Patrick jerseys.”

“More than I do, man,” Lawson shrugged.

“No poetry about Patty’s hair?” Kevin asked, snickering.

Lawson snickered in response. “Well -“

“Healthy respect!” Travis interjected before Lawson could say anything. Because, yes, Hart was tied for his favorite Flyer, and, yes, TK found him attractive, but he’d definitely said some things about Nolan Patrick that should never be repeated, especially to his _ roommate. _

“S’okay, dude,” Kevin nodded, patting TK’s arm. “Lots of people think Pats is a dreamboat, you’re not the only one.”

“I am literally going to kill both of you.”

“I’m offended you don’t have a healthy respect for me.”

This whole night had felt like a fever dream, but Kevin Hayes pouting because Travis didn’t have a crush on him was possibly the strangest thing he’d ever seen. 

TK gestured in his direction. “Even if I did, it would have disappeared once I met you.”

Kevin put a hand over his heart. “Am I uglier in person?”

“You’re a dick, is what you are,” TK said through a laugh he couldn’t contain. Kevin laughed with him.

“You never said how two Ontario boys made it to Philly,” Kevin said after a moment of comfortable silence. “How long have you been here?”

“Three years,” Travis responded, taking a swig of his beer.

“I moved for college,” Lawson explained once it became clear that TK wasn’t going to continue. “Teeks graduated just before we left Ontario, and decided he couldn’t be separated from me and came with.”

Travis rolled his eyes. “It was just time to be out of Ontario. It also helped that I found a job almost immediately and could actually use my degree.”

“Yeah, yeah. We all know it was because of me. And the fact that the Flyers are based in Philly.” Travis rolled his eyes again.

“What’s your degree?” Kevin asked, turning to Travis.

“I teach kindergarten,” he explained.

“Oh, oof.” 

Lawson widened his eyes. “Right? I have no idea how he does it. Probably helps that he has the maturity of a preschooler.”

And TK had never heard _ that _ one before.

Kevin opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by the vibration of his phone on the table. He groaned when he saw who was calling.

“All good?” Lawson inquired. Kevin nodded and answered the phone.

“Yo.” Kevin furrowed his brow and listened to whatever the person on the other end was saying, though from what TK could hear it was less ‘saying’ and more ‘shouting’. 

Kevin grimaced slightly. “Okay, yeah, that’s my bad, dude.” 

He listened for a moment longer, the voice on the other end getting progressively louder.

“I said my bad, dude, I can’t do anything now, I’m out with some friends.”

Because apparently TK and Lawson were ‘some friends’ of Kevin Hayes’s now.

“Okay, okay, fine.” He sighed loudly, definitely making sure the person on the phone heard. “I’m on my way home.”

He hung up while the person on the phone was mid sentence.

“Right, so I gotta head out. Turns out I dropped something orange in a load of roommate’s whites.” He downed the rest of his drink and shoved at Travis until he stood to let him out. “He’s either wearing black or orange anyway, and it’s not like he does his laundry on the regular, but okay.”

“Well, at least you didn’t lie to your blind date about your roommate having an emergency.”

Kevin laughed. “I guess you’re right.”

“Even if making you rush home at ten PM on a Friday is kinda of unnecessary," Lawson added. "Can you actually do anything?”

“Nah," Kevin shrugged. "But when Pats is being bitchy and dramatic he wants everyone to suffer with him.”

Lawson snorted into his drink. “Sounds like someone I know.”

“I’m not bitchy!” Travis protested.

Lawson raised an eyebrow but stood as well, grabbing his coat. “Notice how I didn’t mention any names.”

TK rolled his eyes.

“Also notice that he didn’t deny being dramatic,” Lawson said to Kevin.

“I mean, he did threaten to burn my jersey because I chirped him about his crush on Hartsy,” Kevin added, zipping up his coat.

“We’re probably gonna head out, too,” Lawson said, zipping his own coat. “Nice to meet you, man.”

Kevin gave them both the customary athlete fist bump, back slap combo and returned the sentiment. “Sorry I almost killed you.”

TK shoved him towards the door. “You didn’t almost kill me.”

“Think of it this way: it was just our meet cute. If this was a romcom this is where we’d fall in love.” He paused and smirked. “Or fall in mutual healthy respect.”

TK punched him on the shoulder.

“Upper body injury!” Kevin hollered, grabbing at his arm.

“Bye, Kevin.”

“I mean it about those tickets,” was his last shout before he left the bar. Lawson and TK watched him go before turning to stare at each other.

“Did that just - was that a shared hallucination?”

Lawson just tossed TK his hat and finished wrapping his scarf around his neck loosely.

They’d spent three hours shooting the shit with _ Kevin Hayes _and he wouldn’t believe it if it weren’t for the new contact in his phone and the bruise he’d have on his shoulder from being punched repeatedly by a very strong professional athlete.

“It’ll probably not come to anything,” Lawson said with a shrug. “Couple of tickets because he didn’t actually buy you a drink.”

Travis hummed, wrapping his scarf around his neck.

-

Except the next day he got a text from ‘Knight In Orange Armor’ dated one in the morning. He almost deleted it on site when he saw the contact that Kevin - it had to be Kevin - had chosen for himself, but was too curious. 

It was a picture of what looked like a pile of white button up shirts - or, shirts that possibly should have been white but were actually a muted orange - and the bottom half of someone’s face. It only took a moment - less time than he’d like to admit - for TK to recognize the scowling mouth.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ Think he’s unhappy? _

Nolan Patrick was many things - a talented forward, incredible skater, the actual definition of tall, dark, and handsome - but no one would ever describe him as particularly jovial.

**Sent:**

_ Idk if i would have recognized him if he wasn’t scowling _

The reply was almost instant and consisted of about ten crying laughing emojis. Even over text Kevin was loud. He doesn't even bother confirming who the contact is.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ U recognized him tho _

_ That healthy respect again huh _

Of course he was a double texter. As a serial double texter, Travis found kinship in that even as he narrowed his eyes at Kevin’s message. 

Maybe he had a small amount of healthy respect for Patrick. Maybe he had more Patrick jerseys than he’d admitted to Lawson. Maybe he liked him almost if not more than Hart. It was hardly his fault, Patrick was the one that looked like that and played like that; Travis was simply appreciating the specimen.

**Sent:**

_ Just bc im gay doesn’t mean i think all of your teammates are fuckable _

Kevin didn’t have to know that he found Nolan Patrick very fuckable indeed.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ You said it! u think carts is fuckable! _

_ i mean i can see it _

_he does have that whole THING going for him_

Which was interesting to know about Kevin.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ But i’m glad ur being true to urself _

TK rolled his eyes even though the only one who could see him was the cat, Lawson too busy sleeping off a hangover. Waking up at five am every day wasn’t conducive to sleeping in, and he rarely woke up past nine. Lawson could sleep all day if left to his own devices. So here TK was, up at eight in a quiet apartment, trying to convince Kevin Hayes he didn’t want to fuck the entire Flyers roster. 

He wasn’t doing a great job.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ is carts the only one? _

What _ was _it with Kevin and wanting to know which players Travis found attractive? It was different to the usual way people asked, though, just genuine curiosity and not disgust, like Kevin would do with any of his other cishet friends. It was refreshing enough that he almost wanted to play along.

**Sent:**

_ Are you going to let it go? _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ i mean if it makes u uncomfortable, totally dude _

Again the cat was the only one to see his smile. He took a sip of his coffee, now lukewarm. He downed it in one go, wincing at the taste, and got up to make another cup.

**Sent:**

_ its whatever, dont worry _

Kevin didn’t respond after that; he had a game later, or maybe he decided he didn’t want to know after all. Travis shrugged and set his phone on the small table in the kitchen. He’d have to call his parents soon - why they decided Saturday mornings were the best time to chat, he had no idea - but he went about making breakfast for himself before he weathered the storm of his mother asking if he’d _ ‘found a nice boy down there in Pennsylvania’ _and his father humming agreement to whatever she said.

His phone rang just as he was sitting down on the couch to drink his third cup of coffee. He loved his parents, he really did, even if they were afraid that he was_ ‘lonely in that big city by himself _’ and refused to let it go.

Maybe he _ was _ lonely, maybe he _ would _ like to have someone to come home to, whatever. No matter how surprising it seemed, he was a romantic at heart; the whole fabled, meant to be kind of love is something he’d always wanted. A love that would help change the way he viewed the unlovable parts of him. He wanted to wake up in the arms of a man and know they belonged together. He wanted that romcom Kevin joked about.

There was no way he’d breathe a word of that aloud, though. 

“Travis!”

His mom’s voice made him smile softly to himself. There’d always been a warmth in her voice that made him feel at ease, even over the phone. It was how he’d made it through juniors, through billet housing and days spent on the road. It reminded him that he always had a home.

“Hey, ma,” Travis replied. “How’s everything up there?”

“Oh, you know. The usual," she said.

“Nothing new then?”

She laughed softly. “I’m sure your father caught a big fish, or something.”

“Is he there?” 

“Of course,” she said. There was a rustling that was probably his mother putting the phone on speaker.

“Hey, bud,” his dad said. “You good?”

If his mom's voice reminded him that he had a home, his father's voice reminded him of who he had there. Early mornings on the lake with him and his brother, the conversations they had on a small boat, just the three of them. Gutting and cooking fish in his childhood home, both of his parents’ refusal to raise sons that couldn’t cook for themselves. Accidentally coming out to his parents during the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals because _ ‘for a Penguin, Crosby is pretty hot’ _. Chase had laughed himself hoarse at that, and still laughed whenever it was brought up.

“Hey, dad. I’m good - busy, but good.” Bee jumped on his lap, purring. Travis absentmindedly stroked her as he explained what he’d been up to. Work, the upstairs neighbor that seemed to be always moving furniture, the dog he was planning to get from the shelter down the street. His dad chimed in then, making sure the dog was up to his dog lover standards.

“How’s Law?” his mother asked after half an hour of Travis ranting. She’d always done that; let him talk, rant and rave until he had nothing left. She’d said once that she’d always let him express himself, and that she didn’t want him to ever feel like he should be afraid to speak his mind. A lot of people would probably be happier if he knew how to shut up, actually, but his mom had never made him feel like he had to.

“He’s good.”

“His school going alright?” Lawson was like a third son to his parents, always at the farm on the weekends, every day in the summer. They’d shared the same billet family in the O, even. Travis was pretty sure they had always wanted him and Law to shack up and adopt a bunch of little redneck children.

“Yeah, finals kicked his ass, but he thinks he did okay.” Travis paused to scratch Bee under the chin. “He just met a girl, actually, they seemed to really hit it off.” 

“I’m glad he met someone,” his mom said slowly.

Fuck. Rookie mistake, Konecny. Bringing up any relationship was a guaranteed segway into his own relationship woes. 

“Yeah, she’s really nice.” Because she was, she was perfect for Lawson, and Travis was happy for him.

There was a pause before his mother cleared her throat. “Anyone special in your life?”

There it was. Took longer than usual to get there, though his dad did spend ten minutes asking about the dog he was adopting.

“Actually, yeah.”

Fuck.

Why did he say that?

His mother let out a celebratory sound. Travis didn’t know when his life became so sad and lonely that his mother celebrated when she heard he had met someone. Or when it became so sad and lonely that he had to lie about meeting someone.

“Tell us all about him, I want to know everything.” She sounded happy; actually, she sounded near tears. TK’s stomach clenched with guilt. He couldn’t change what he’d said now, couldn’t say he was just joking. He had to go all in.

He was a kindergarten teacher. He was used to thinking quickly to make up for impulsive shit he’d said. Just usually it wasn’t to his parents - not since he'd moved out, at least - and it had never been about a made up boyfriend. Made up girlfriend, maybe, when he was in the closet; but never a faceless boyfriend he’d met in Philadelphia that he’d made up to make his mother happy.

“It’s new,” Travis started. “There’s not much to say.”

“Travis,” his mother interrupted with a tsk.

“Um. He’s a good guy.” Travis was wincing so forcefully he was afraid his face would get stuck like that. “We have a lot in common,” he continued. “He likes hockey, likes to fish and hunt. Doesn’t put up with any of my shit. I think you’d really like him, Law does."

“How’d you two meet?”

“A friend introduced us,” Travis said, scratching at the back of his neck.

“How long have you been together?”

“I told you, it’s new.”

“Is he handsome?”

“Would I be with someone who wasn’t?”

“I’ve seen some of those hockey boys Lawson teases you about finding attractive. There’s no way a man has to be objectively attractive for you to be with him.”

Travis laughed softly, because she wasn’t wrong. “Well, he is.”

His mother hummed. “I can’t wait to meet him.”

“I can’t wait for him to meet you, either,” Travis responded. This was getting worse and worse. He could usually talk his way out of anything, but get his mom excited and it was all he could do not to make up a name, as well.

"I know you were planning on coming up for Christmas," she continued. "But how would you feel about us coming down to visit you? We haven’t been to Pennsylvania since you moved in, and Chase has never been. Thought it might be nice."

"That would be awesome," Travis grinned. He missed home, yeah, but he hated flying and he wanted his family to see what his life was like here. Even if it wasn’t incredibly exciting.

“And of course, we’d love to meet that young man of yours.”

The grin dropped off of his face immediately. They wouldn’t believe he’d broken up with his boyfriend in the two weeks between now and his family’s visit; what the fuck was he going to do now?

"I know it’s only in a couple weeks...have you bought your ticket already?" his mother fretted.

"Yeah, but no worries.” Travis waved off her worry. “Law was thinking about going home but wasn’t sure if he should get a ticket. I'm sure he'll buy groceries for a while to pay me back."

“Aw, we would have loved to see him,” she replied. Her voice notably brightened. "We can't wait to see you!”

"Sorry we don't have the room to let you stay here."

"That's alright, bud," his dad said, the first time he'd spoken in a while besides the customary hum while his mother grilled him about his boyfriend. His _ boyfriend. _

"Who knows, if you and your boy work out maybe next year it will be different!"

“Ha, maybe.” His phone vibrated against his ear. When he pulled it away to check the notification he saw it was a text from Kevin. “Actually, I think I have to go now.”

“It’s always wonderful to talk to you. Love you, Trav.” His father echoed the sentiment.

“Love you both. Tell Chase to give me a call.”

“You can always text him, you know,” his mother teased. “Or even call him first for once.”

“Too easy. Bye.”

He hung up before his mother could respond and opened the text he got from Kevin.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ cool dude, just lemme know _

_ …………………… _

The pause after the series of periods was just this side of nerve racking. When Kevin was texting, it was rapidfire, his responses almost instantaneous; again, Travis found kinship in that. The pause didn’t bode well.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ What about claude? _

Travis huffed a slight laugh. 

**Sent:**

_ If you like the whole dad thing _

Kevin sent back a thinking face emoji.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ Do you like the whole dad thing? _

TK scratched at his chin. His poor excuse for a beard was getting a little scraggly, but he honestly couldn't be fucked.

**Sent:**

_ you cant just ask a man if he has a daddy kink. _

_ you haven’t even taken me out to dinner, dude _

TK would wonder if it was too early into their friendship to mention kinks but refused to overthink it. He was an all in type of person; he could meet someone for five minutes and be their favorite person at the end of the night. Or least favorite - Lawson always said he was an acquired taste. People either liked him or hated him, there was no middle ground.

Kevin sent back another row of laughing/crying emojis, so apparently it wasn’t too early.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ so sorry, didn’t realize there was etiquette to it _

**Sent:**

_ oh totally. def 3rd date convo. _

**Knight In Orange Armor: **

_ Does last night count as a date? _

**Sent:**

_ absolutely not _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine _

Apparently Kevin was an all in kind of friend, too. Travis felt any last starstruckness that he was talking to Kevin Hayes disappear. It was still strange, but talking about daddy kinks changes a friendship for better or worse.

**Sent:**

_ Daddy kink discussion tabled. _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ SOS G JUST SAW THAT MESSAGE AND NOW THE ENTIRE TEAM THINKS IM TALKING TO A GIRL ABOUT HER KINKS _

Claude Giroux thinks Travis was a girl discussing her daddy kink - or lack thereof - with his alternate captain. Was the reality worse? That he was a gay man being asked if he found Giroux “daddy hot”?

**Sent:**

_ Why would he think i’m a girl? _

_ I def put travis into your phone, if he saw the text he should have seen that _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ ummmmmm _

_ ……………….. _

_ ………………… _

_ i may have changed it _

**Sent:**

_ Jfc _

_ to what? _

Travis got a screenshot in return. He closed his eyes and breathed once through his nose.

**Sent:**

_ you changed my name to LOVE INTEREST and let claude fucking giroux see me talk about daddy kinks????????! In reference to HIM??????? _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ Its bc of our romcom :( _

**Sent:**

_ Hayes i stg _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ no one is believing me when i tell them your not my date from last night _

**Sent:**

_ the one u ran away from _

Or, power walked away from. The whole incident with his mother, and now _ this? _God may as well just kill him now, was he ever going to recover from the horror?

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ Sanny hooked us up and he looks way too pleased. _

_ *travis sanheim _

_ Dude help _

Travis wasn’t quite sure what Kevin wanted him to do. He couldn’t just show up at morning skate and look Travis Sanheim and Claude Giroux in the eye and confirm that, no, he was not Kevin’s date from last night, but an unfortunate gay man who got run over by Kevin Hayes in the middle of a busy sidewalk subsequently leading to a friendship.

**Sent:**

_ Im not helping you catfish your teammates _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ ………...that wasn’t what i wanted _

**Sent:**

_ Then what do u want? _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ A picture? _

TK has had men ask him for pictures, but usually not at nine in the morning, and almost always not a heterosexual man asking for a friend.

**Sent:**

_ I AM NOT SENDING YOU NUDES KEVIN MIDDLE NAME HAYES _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ G SAW THAT TOO _

If TK wasn’t so poor he’d throw his phone out the window; as it was, he couldn’t afford a new phone and just pinched the bridge of his nose.

**Sent:**

_ STOP LETTING HIM SEE UR PHONE _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ Im explaining but they don’t believe ur not a chick :( _

_ If i convince G he’ll stop everyone from teasing me _

_ Also my middle name is patrick _

TK sighed and opened his gallery to find a picture of himself appropriate to send to the captain of the Philadelphia Flyers. He quickly decided on a picture from last summer; hockey players like fishing, right? It wasn’t like he had any pictures that _ weren’t _him holding a fish, so it would have to do. He almost pressed ‘Send’ before changing his mind.

He went back into his bedroom and dug through his drawers until he found what he was looking for.

The picture Kevin sent back was a shot of Claude Giroux laughing; there were a few other players in the background, but Giroux was the only one in focus. Apparently the series of photos depicting TK dropping a #13 HAYES jersey into the trashcan was funny to him. He was also like, super handsome. Just another thing on the list of ‘Things Kevin Didn’t Need To Know’.

He saved the picture for future reference.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ :( i almost wish they still thought you were a chick _

**Sent:**

_ Bye, kevin _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ :( :( :( _

TK locked his phone without responding.

He taught kindergarten, he saw strange things every day, but this was probably the weirdest interaction he’d ever had. He sighed and unlocked his phone. May as well make this interaction even weirder.

**Sent:**

_ You joked, but i think my life just became a romcom _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ ????????? _

**Sent:**

_ You wouldnt happen to know a gay man that’s a good guy who won’t put up with my bullshit and likes hockey, hunting, and fishing? _

_ also law has to like him _

_ def help if he’s bitchy and dramatic _

_ and handsome _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ look in a mirror _

Kevin Hayes was flirting with him - which, Travis wasn’t unaccustomed to platonic flirting. He grew up playing hockey, an atmosphere that was strangely homoerotic for how homophobic it could be, and he referred to Lawson as his husband at least twice a day. It was more the fact that Kevin Hayes, a millionaire professional athlete, was flirting with him even after he’d learned that Travis was gay, that he thought Kevin’s teammate was fuckable.

All he sent back was a vomit emoji, though. Kevin didn’t need to know about the warmth in his belly.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ :D _

**Sent:**

_ And i’m NOT bitchy _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ Ok, ok, your not bitchy _

_ Why? _

**Sent:**

_ bc i accidentally told my mother i was in a relationship and now my parents want to meet him _

_ And i told them we had a lot in common and that he was a good guy and handsome and that law liked him but he was shy around new people so that’s why i hadn’t really talked about him _

_ they’d never believe that i was dating someone super nice tho bc of past boyfriends and personality _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ and you couldn’t….. _

_ correct yourself? _

When said plainly, it did sound kind of stupid. Really stupid, actually. But Travis was just that - very stupid. Yeah, he had a degree in education. Yeah, he’d been a teacher for three years. Yeah, he was intelligent enough to succeed at both of those things.

But he was such a fucking dumbass, a sentiment that has been repeated by almost every person in his life. Even Bee has meowed at him in a way that suspiciously sounded like her calling him a dumbass.

**Sent:**

_ my mother CRIED _

_ Sorry to like _

_ Unload this _

_ Law is asleep _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ All good dude _

_ That’s what friends are for _

_ i actually think i have someone who can help _

_ Even tho You’re a dumbass _

Definitely not the response TK expected. Well, he definitely expected Kevin to call him a dumbass, but not Kevin trying to direct a romantic comedy of his own.

This was some tropey bullshit. He was kind of excited - and nervous - to see where it would go.

**Sent:**

_ What, really? _

_ i wasn’t really being serious _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ so you don’t want my help? _

Travis needed all the help he can fucking get. He’d have to sit Law down and tell him, Christ. He was good at keeping secrets, at least. Even if TK’s life was over.

**Sent:**

_ i mean if you can _

_ i wouldn’t deny help _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ Itll make up for last night _

Travis rolled his eyes at Bee, who got off his lap with a chirp. Apparently she’d reached her bullshit limit, too.

**Sent:**

_ Idk why you and law think you almost killed me _

_ I’m a big boy _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ Are you, though? _

Travis sent back an unimpressed face emoji and received a crying laughing emoji in return.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ i mean, i AM offended that u need a fake boyfriend _

A fake boyfriend. Fuck. He was really going to do this, huh? He was really going to introduce a stranger to his parents in two weeks and pretend they were happily in love.

**Sent:**

_ Do i want to know why? _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ I thought what we had was special _

**Sent:**

_ :( i wasn’t sure if we were ready for that next step _

He got a crying emoji in return. Travis was in the middle of replying when he got another message.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ Actually i gtg _

_ Early game, time for warmup _

_ i’ll score for you ;) love interest ;) _

**Sent:**

_ You’d better or im breaking up with you _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ i’ll give you deets if he sees _

_ *says _

_ *says yes _

_ I should know by tonight _

**Sent:**

_ I can’t like _

_ pay him or anything _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ he owes me _

_ ok bye for real, say hi to law for me _

Lawson woke up before he could think about it more, stumbling into the kitchen. TK handed him a cup of coffee and went to put his Hayes jersey back in the drawer with the rest of his Flyer jerseys. He thought about it and pulled it over his head instead.

There was a game on, afterall. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Update next week' is apparently synonymous with 'in a few days'
> 
> Thank you so much for your comments!

The game was good, which wasn’t unexpected. They’d been playing well all season; second in the metro, even. A win was never guaranteed - especially against the Caps - but TK was confident. And for once he was right.

Kevin did score, actually. Two in fact, the second with an absolutely filthy assist from Patrick.

“Patrick between the legs, eh?” Lawson leered at the replay of Kevin’s second goal.

“If you’re going to make a sex joke, please refrain.”

“I would never.” Lawson’s faux innocent face needed some work. Half of his kids were better at it than him.

“Yeah, yeah,” Travis responded with an eye roll. “Just watch the postgame.”

Lawson laughed and faced the TV again. That turned out to be a very bad idea, because of course the first person they were interviewing was Patrick.

“Two goals and two assists,” a reporter was saying. “This is only your second game back after a month of being out. Do you think you’re close to top form?”

Patrick mumbled something about it being a team effort, about the fact that he’d been out for a month with a lower body injury being motivation to get back in. Or, probably. Maybe. Travis was too busy looking at the blush on his cheeks and appreciating the fact he was a head taller than the interviewer he was standing nearest to. In reality, he was probably mumbling something incoherent while disassociating slightly. The usual Nolan Patrick post game song and dance.

“If you pop a boner on our couch I will disown you,” Law said.

“I’m not going to pop a boner on our couch!” Travis protested.

“Are you sure?”

“He’s not _ that _ hot, Christ.” Which. Was a lie and a half, he definitely was _ that _hot, but Lawson didn’t need to know that.

Lawson gave him a look. “I’m straight and even I can appreciate Patrick’s whole - thing.”

“He’s just -” Travis will deny that the noise he let out was a _ wail _but it was very close to it.

“I know, bud.”

“Look at him!” TK gestured toward the television where Patrick was still talking. Mumbling. Whatever.

“I know, bud.”

“He’s literally the human personification of tall, dark, and handsome _ and _he’s an incredible player.”

Lawson patted his back gently. “You’ll make it through.”

“Will I? Will I _ really? _”

“You made it through Chris Tremblay in juniors, you can make it through Nolan Patrick.” And, point. Chris Tremblay was hot as fire and had the nicest ass Travis had ever seen. He fancied himself in love with him for a good year.

“Can I? Can I _ really?” _

“Really, really.”

“He’s just unrealistically hot. He’s walking around looking like that? Every day? Illegal.”

Lawson sent him a look out of the corner of his eye. “I will pour a glass of cold water over your head if you don’t stop talking about how hot Nolan Patrick is.”

Travis gasped. “Homophobic.”

“If I was, there were many opportunities to have unfriended you before you fell for Nolan Patrick.”

“I didn’t _ fall _for him!” Travis whined. “I just -”

“Dude -”

“Anyway!” Travis interrupted. “My parents say hello.”

Lawson hummed but let him get away with the subject change, probably just grateful that he hadn’t gotten to the point of poetry. “How was the call? Anything new?”

TK dutifully reiterated what they said, about the visit and the tickets, etc. He left out a very important detail, but knew he’d have to tell him eventually.

“I’ll have to tell my parents I can make it up, then,” Lawson said. “Thanks for that, dude.”

“No problem, man.” Travis hesitated. “I do have a favor to ask.”

“Yeah?” Law raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t make a big deal about what I have to tell you, and do _ not _tell anyone.”

Lawson narrowed his eyes. “Why do I feel like this is going to be illegal?”

“It’s not - illegal, per say.” Travis wrung his hands together in his lap slightly. “But it is majorly fucked up.”

“Hit me with it, then,” Law said, leaning back.

Travis sighed and told him what he’d said to his mom, what Kevin had offered to do. Lawson gaped at him slightly for a moment when he’d finished, before shaking his head.

“So, what you’re telling me -”

“Don’t repeat it, please,” TK pleaded, holding up his hands. “It was bad enough saying it, I don’t need to hear it repeated.”

“Do you want a cup of tea?” asked Lawson instead of responding, slapping his thighs and standing up.

Travis nodded, a bit confused. He’d never say no to a cup of tea, though. Lawson paused in the doorway before shaking his head and continuing to the kitchen.

“Yeah, this is definitely a cup of tea kind of conversation,” Travis could hear him say to himself in the kitchen. He ignored that and pulled out his phone.

**Sent:**

_ Thanks for the goal. _

Lawson was back quickly, handing Travis a mug and a muffin that Travis had baked yesterday after school. ‘Last day of the semester for both him and Law’ muffins; they’d already eaten most of the two dozen he’d made. The ‘FLYERS 19’ on the front of the mug mocked him, and he glared at Lawson instead of saying thank you.

“Do you really think this will work?” Lawson said, sitting down with his own cup of tea and muffin.

“Dunno,” Travis shrugged. “But I’ve already dug the hole, may as well try my best to crawl out of it.”

“Who knows, maybe you two will fall in love!”

“Oh, yes, because I’m _ suuuuch _ an easy person to fall in love with.” Travis meant it as a joke, a ‘haha’ comment about his perpetual singleness, but it came off more self deprecating than he would have liked.

Lawson set his mug and muffin on the coffee table and punched TK on the thigh. “No, shut up with that shit. Anyone would be lucky to have you.”

Travis hid his small grin in his mug. For all the shit that Lawson gave him, he knew he’d always have him in his corner. Even if that corner was him making up a boyfriend to fool his parents into thinking he was happily loved up.

“Though,” Law was continuing, picking up his tea again. “I’m not sure what kind of favor this guy owes Kevin that he’d be able to cash in on with this.”

“I’m not sure I really want to know, actually.” Travis felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out, already knowing who it would be.

_ ‘Got you TWO' _it read.

Lawson waggled his eyebrows when he saw Travis smile at his phone. “Is that your boyfriend?”

“Who, Kevin?” Travis wrinkled his nose “Ew, gross.”

“Should I tell him you think even the thought of dating him disgusts you?”

“Pretty sure I said that to his face.”

**Sent:**

_ Fetch me my smelling salts, I’m swooning and may faint. _

“I have no clue what to expect,” Travis sighed, locking his phone.

“You’ll need to make some rules, or something,” Lawson said.

“Rules?”

“Like, write down what you’re okay with and what you’re not okay with, and let him look it over. Like hand holding, kissing, et cetera.”

It was slowly hitting Travis what this would entail. Lawson patted him on the back and went into the kitchen again; he could hear rustling in one of the drawers, then the opening and closing of the fridge. Before Lawson came back his phone vibrated on the arm of the sofa.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ Law was right, you’re really fucking dramatic dude. _

**Sent:**

_ I teach toddlers bud _

_ Do you think every kindergarten teacher isn’t the most dramatic bastard in the world? _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ Fair. _

_ I have kid cousins and just spending 10 mins w/them is hard _

**Sent:**

_ Aww, don’t talk about Matty like that. He’s doing really well in Calgary. _

He got Kevin’s customary series of laughing crying.

Lawson came back, holding a notebook under his arm and two beers in his hands. He set the beers on the table and sat down. He shimmied a pen out of his pocket, and Travis couldn’t help but snort at the one he’d chosen. The toy unicorn on top was a good touch; it was definitely TK’s, but watching Lawson Crouse use a glittery pen with a unicorn on it helped cheer him up a little.

“So,” Law started, opening the notebook. “Any hard no’s or yeses?”

“I’ve never done this before, I don’t know.”

“Hand holding slash various cuddling? Actually, I’m just going to assume yes, because you do that with everyone.” He wrote something in the notebook. “Pet names?”

“What, do you think my parents would believe someone I was dating would call me sweetheart? Honey bunch? Darling? Sugarplum?”

Lawson looked up at him, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully. “I think you’d love to date someone who called you pet names.”

And yeah, okay. He wasn’t wrong. He’d gotten baby and other pet names during sex from previous partners, but he’d probably be on the floor if a boyfriend called him ‘babe’ or ‘darling’ outside of dirty talk. Sue him. Lawson didn’t need to _ say _it.

“Pet names are okay,” Travis confirmed after a moment.

“What about…” Lawson tapped the unicorn against his lips. “Kissing?”

“Nothing with tongue.” Travis paused. “Unless he’s really hot.”

“Honestly, I can’t think of anything else.” Lawson closed the notebook. “You’re fucked either way.”

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ I asked about the thing, btw _

_ He wants to meet you first _

**Sent:**

_ Makes sense _

“Apparently he wants to meet me first,” Travis said. Lawson sucked in a breath through his teeth.

“Oh, bad idea, bud,” he grimaced. “He’ll never say yes once he’s met you.”

“Didn’t you just say anyone would be lucky to have me?”

“Plead the fifth,” Lawson said through the huge bite of muffin he’d just taken. When did he grab another muffin?

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ speaking of! We have another game tomorrow. I have a couple tickets set aside if you and law want to come _

“You want to go to the Flyers game tomorrow afternoon?” Travis asked. Law just nodded, mouth full of muffin.

**Sent:**

_ That would be awesome dude _

_ u don’t have to tho _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ dude _

**Sent:**

_ let me know when he wants to meet up _

Kevin sent back a thumbs up.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ Actually _

_ We have a day off on monday, so we’ll probably be going out after the game _

_ Happy hour kinda shit _

_ You and lawson are welcome to come _

**Sent:**

_ Sorry dude _

_ Our goibg out quota is full up _

_ Student + kindergarten teacher = not going out often _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ Oh, you got school monday? _

**Sent:**

_ No, actually. On break. _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ So you just don’t want to hang out with me? Ouch….. _

**Sent:**

_ $$$$$$ _

_ Teachers don’t make a lot of $$ dude _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ Oh dude no I’ll totally buy your drinks _

“Is Kevin Hayes your sugar daddy?” Lawson asked when TK passed on the offer.

“If I asked he probably would be.” Somehow Travis knew that was 100% true.

“What is your life, bud?”

“What is _ our _life,” Travis pointed out. “You’re coming with.”

“Yeah, but Kevin Hayes isn’t finding me a fake boyfriend.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not in the description for most sugar daddies,” Travis responded, typing another message.

“Why, you got experience with them, dude?”

“Unfortunately not.”

“So you don’t know.”

**Sent:**

_ I don’t put out on the second date _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ We at least need to talk about the whole shebang _

**Sent:**

_ shebang _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ Yes _

_ so? _

**Sent:**

_ Sure. law is in. _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ It won’t be the whole team, only a few of us _

_ T shirt and jeans are fine, it’s not fancy _

_ Tickets are at will call _

_ It’ll be immediately after press and shit _

_ I’ll next you where to meet up _

_ *text _

**Sent:**

_ See you there i guess _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ wear something sexy ;) _

**Sent:**

_ I’ll wear my ‘special occasions’ hat _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ Xoxoxoxoxo _

-

The rest of the night was standard - there was a Leafs game on, which Lawson made him watch. It was against Vancouver, though, so he at least got to see Bo play. Even if they were losing 4-1 in the second and he’d spent most of the game thus far in the penalty box.

“Is it weird?”

“Is what weird?”

“That you played against some of these guys in the O?” Lawson elaborated, gesturing at the television. Tavares was doing - something. Probably scoring.

They usually ignored this; locked it away and didn’t talk about it, TK’s injury and subsequent early retirement. The concussion, the metal in his wrist, the scar halfway up his arm, the draft so close he could taste it. Seventeen, life over because there wasn’t a Plan B, watching players he’d once captained get chosen for NHL teams.

"Dude, you played against them, too," he said instead of following that train of thought. He was done wallowing; he had his dream job - or, a new dream job - and he was happy. Yeah, there would always be a part of him that wondered what might have been if he hadn’t gotten injured; he had been good, had been _ really _good. He would have gone early in the draft, and he knew that. But what ifs were dangerous, and he’d rather appreciate what he had than mourn what could have been.

“For like, a year,” Lawson said dismissively. “And I hardly _ played _even when I was on the roster, I was injured every ten minutes. You played against them multiple times for multiple years.”

“I played _ with _some of these guys, bud." Travis gestured at the television the same way Law had. "I literally was on Team Canada with Marner and Strome.”

Lawson hummed. “What are they like?”

Travis shrugged. “I haven’t talked to them since 2014, but at the time Marns was very loud. Stromer wasn't nearly as loud, but he and Marner were at each other's' throats half the time.”

"The other half of the time?"

"Lots of cuddling," Travis answered, trying not to sound too fond. By the look on Law's face he didn't really succeed.

"Aw, were there Team Canada cuddle piles?"

Travis rolled his eyes. "Shut up, you're just jealous that I've cuddled Dylan Strome and you haven't."

Lawson didn't deny it, because it was true. “I don't know what Strome's like, but I'm pretty sure Marner’s still very loud.”

“Just now he’s loud with an A on his chest and a Stanley Cup,” Travis pointed out. Lawson cheered at the reminder that the Leafs won the 2021 Stanley Cup, God knows how. Travis shoved him, even though he _ was _ proud of them. Stromer especially - his journey had never been as straightforward as Mitch's, even in the O. It took him a few years, a few teams, a few players’ shadows to step out of, but he'd been traded to Toronto last season and already had a Stanley Cup ring and a seventy five point season to show for it. It was poetic, almost, the whole hometown boy returning to Toronto thing.

Law dropped the subject, so Travis settled down to watch his cousin get slaughtered by some old friends.

"Have you ever tried to get in contact with them?" Lawson asked after another few minutes of watching the game.

“Who?” TK asked distractedly, too busy thinking of a rude text to send Bo. 

Lawson sighed loudly, much more dramatically than circumstances called for. “Marner and Strome, or any of your other past teammates?”

Travis shook his head. "Don't even have their old numbers still, let alone their new ones."

"Would you even want to? Or would it upset you?"

"Like, would I be upset to see my old friends and teammates?"

Law nodded. "Like, would it bring back memories, or whatever."

TK thought for a moment. "I think - I think that would be nice. I'm not completely over what happened in the O, but I'm happy where I am. If a reunion ever happened, it wouldn't upset me. Like I said, might even be nice." He took a breath. “But we were, what, seventeen? Obviously they remember who I am as a player, but I don’t know to what extent they’d remember me as a person.” It sounded a bit sad even to his own ears.

“Weren’t you like - their captain once? I always forget you were kind of a big deal.” Lawson paused and seemed to be thinking. “When we were in Toronto - did people ever recognize you?”

TK laughed slightly with little humor. “Yeah. Toronto is the worst.”

“I’ll drink to that, man.”

“‘OHL first pick, tragically injured before the 2015 NHL draft, how far behind McDavid and Eichel would he have gone if he hadn’t shattered his wrist?’,” Travis said in a mocking tone, rolling his eyes. “Or whatever shit they said for a few years there. I haven’t been recognized since I’ve been in Philly, thank God.”

“Sorry I brought it up,” Lawson said softly. “I know you don’t like to talk about it.”

“Nah, dude. No big deal. It’s been long enough, I’m happy now. Besides, you didn’t decide I’d look good smashed against the ice.”

“Bad move. Nothing could make you ever look good.”

Travis rolled his eyes. “You’re just jealous, because I’m way more handsome than you.”

“Um, buddy, I’m _ obviously _the hot one.”

“What, does that make me the smart one?”

“Oh, dear God no.” Lawson looked horrified at the thought.

“I’m a _ teacher, _though,” Travis said loudly. “That makes me the smart one.”

“You’re smart enough to teach toddlers how to tell time.” 

Travis could give him that, because he wasn’t wrong.

“Okay, but I’m definitely hotter,” TK said.

Law snickered. “Not with whatever is going on on your face.”

His facial hair was _ perfect, _ thank you very much. “You’re just jealous because even if you were gay I wouldn’t try and get with you.”

“What, am I not tall, dark, and handsome enough for you?”

TK made a clicking noise against the roof of his mouth with his tongue. “Can’t be tall, dark, and handsome if you’re a ginger, bud.”

“I’m not a fucking _ ginger. _” There was nothing that made Lawson Crouse angrier than calling him a ginger.

“I’ve seen you in a Flyers jersey. Ginge to the max.”

“Everyone looks ginger in a Flyers jersey!” Lawson protested.

“Not me.”

“Not -” Lawson fluttered his eyebrows and sighed dramatically. “Actual dreamboat, Nolan Patrick.”

Travis turned off the television. Lawson could finish his stupid Leafs game on his phone.

-

Getting ready for the game the next morning was all kinds of surreal. It wasn’t TK’s first Flyers game, not by a longshot, but it was the first Flyers game that he’d be picking up tickets at willcall because a player left them there.

“Are you going to wear a Hayes jersey?” Lawson asked from his place sprawled on TK’s bed.

“I’m never wearing a Hayes jersey again.” Travis pulled out a Flyers sweatshirt; he refused to wear a jersey at all, because Lawson would give him shit no matter whose jersey he wore.

“Aw, I’m sure your sugar daddy will be disappointed.”

“Why are you in my room, again?”

Lawson adjusted the pillows behind his head. “I’m helping you get dressed.” 

“I don’t need your help picking out clothes,” Travis protested. 

Lawson ignored him and nodded towards his dresser. “Wear those jeans that make your ass look good.”

“Everything makes my ass look good,” Travis muttered absentmindedly, grabbing the jeans in question. 

Lawson nodded towards the dresser again. “V-neck t shirt.”

“I didn’t need your help picking out clothes, I’m a grown man,” Travis repeated, even as he pulled out a white v-neck. “Are you sure you aren’t the gay best friend?”

“You don’t have to be gay to have a better style than you.” Which, point. “Anyway, you have to look good for your man.”

Travis sent him a questioning look, not sure he wanted to know who he meant.

“Patrick, of course,” Lawson snickered. “Do you want to get there in time for warmups?”

“Two days ago, I would have said yes. Now I’m not so sure.”

“Next time, then.” Lawson stood up, stretching. “You have time to make yourself look pretty.”

He left, dodging TK’s swat. Dickhead. He finished getting ready, not even attempting to do anything with his hair. There was trying and there was very obviously trying _ too _hard, and anything that wasn’t just pulling on a hat over messy hair fell into the latter category.

-

The game was hard fought and multiple players were slammed against the glass where Travis and Lawson were sitting - he’d never had glass seats in his _ life _ \- but in the end they only came away with one point.

“Shame,” Lawson hummed. He downed what was left of his beer. “Where are we meeting Kevin then?”

“He’ll message eventually,” Travis shrugged. “He only just went down the tunnel. We’ll just have to loiter.”

“Mr. Konecny?” A man with an official looking badge around his neck tapped him on the shoulder. “I’ve been asked to collect you.”

“Am I in trouble?” He was positive the tickets were for him, but suddenly he was sure he’d stolen them.

“No, sir, but I’ve been told to take you two downstairs. Apparently Mr. Hayes wants you to meet him in the locker room.”

Travis shot Lawson a look, but he just stood up and gathered his coat.

The walk to the locker room was nearly the same as any rink, if any rink was home of an NHL team. They were led to a lounge of sorts - or, a maintenance hallway just outside the locker room with a giant Gritty decal on one wall - that Travis was familiar with from Flyers TV specials. 

The man with the official looking badge around his neck left them with a nod and a ‘Wait here’; they did as he said, TK keeping up his usual steady stream of chatter, none of which Lawson was paying attention to. 

“Travis!”

TK barely had time to brace himself before he was accosted by a burly - and shirtless - Bostonian. 

“I missed you,” Kevin said, squeezing him to his sweaty chest. 

“You saw me Friday, dude.” He shoved at Kevin’s chest. “Get off of me, I don’t want your sweaty tits in my face.”

“Every day I go without seeing your face is a day lost.”

“Yeah, yeah, bud.” He succeeded in pushing Kevin away and adjusted his cap. “You’ve known me for five minutes.”

Kevin just laughed loudly.

“Also,” he continued. “If you weren’t so small my tits wouldn’t be in your face.”

“You’re literally the fucking worst, dude.”

“Come meet the guys.” Kevin gestured towards the locker room behind him, ignoring Travis.

“I’ve been in enough locker rooms to know I do _ not _want to be in that one.” Travis wrinkled his nose. “In fact, go shower. You stink. Why are you even out here?”

“Be back in five, don’t go anywhere. Media’s done so we’ll be able to head off right away.”

Travis gestured to the Gritty decal. “We’ll hang out with Gritty.”

He laughed and hustled back into the locker room. 

“‘Dear diary’,” Lawson started with a hum, staring up at the decal. “‘Today I motorboated Kevin Hayes mere minutes before I met Carter Hart.’”

“I called Kevin the fucking worst, but I take it back. You’re definitely the worst.”

“Maybe your tall, dark, and handsome will let you motorboat him.”

TK tried not to flush at the thought, but apparently didn’t do a good enough job hiding his reaction.

“Oh my god,” he laughed loudly. “You totally want to motorboat him! You would pay money to motorboat him!”

“I wouldn’t pay money to motorboat _ anyone. _If there is any motorboating it will be due to his free will and desire for my face in his tits.”

Lawson grabbed him in a chokehold. “Say it - say you want his tits in your face.”

“Never!” Travis laughed, struggling against his hold.

They wrestled for a second longer - Travis felt an overwhelming amount of fondness for Lawson, even as he elbowed him in the ribs.

Lawson ‘oofed’ but didn’t let go. He’d knocked TK’s hat off at this point and was trying valiantly to grind knuckles against his head. “You want his sweaty muscular tits in your face!”

There was a low cough. “Um. Sorry. Am I - did I interrupt something?”

Lawson’s arms went slack and Travis wriggled his way out of his grip, grabbing his hat from the floor where it had fallen. There was a beat of silence before Lawson burst out laughing, tears in his eyes. TK closed his own eyes as he adjusted his hat on his head. Of fucking course. Of _ fucking _course.

Turning around on his heel slowly, he released a breath just as he made eye contact - up, up, up - with, _ of fucking course _ , Nolan _ fucking _ Patrick.

His was hair damp and curling around his broad shoulders, which looked even broader in his game day suit. His tie was hanging loose around his neck and the top few buttons of his shirt were undone, but Travis was too horrified to appreciate it fully. He adjusted his hat again just for something to do with his hands, but was interrupted before he could attempt to explain.

“Is Law okay?” Kevin asked, coming from behind Patrick’s shoulder. It was a fair question, because he was still bent in half, gasping for breath.

“I’m fine,” Lawson gasped, wiping tears from his eyes. 

TK hit him on the bicep. “It’s not that funny, dude.”

“It’s pretty funny,” Lawson said, finally standing up.

Kevin turned a questioning look on Patrick, who shrugged. He turned the same questioning look on Lawson, who shrugged as well.

“Good talk,” TK said. “Never to be repeated.”

Travis turned on his heel again, this time to leave the area - leave Philly, leave the United States - but was stopped by a hand on his bicep. He let Kevin turn him to face Patrick, whose cheeks were red.

“At least let me introduce you.”

This was how Travis was going to die; Kevin Hayes was going to kill him, and it wasn’t going to be by smashing his head on the pavement. It was by pushing a 6’2” hockey player that had starred in way too many of TK’s fantasies towards him. 

A 6’2” hockey player that tripped over his - apparently untied - shoelaces and fell straight into Travis.

“Almost knocked over by two Flyers,” Travis said, catching Patrick by the biceps. “Where’s Laughton to complete the line?”

Suddenly his mouth caught up with his brain - after he’d spoken, as per usual - and it hit Travis that he was practically holding _ Nolan Patrick _in his arms.

“Woah, you _ are _ stronger than you look. You didn’t even flinch.” Kevin sounded surprised and impressed.

Travis tried to give him a dirty look but couldn’t see him past Patrick. “I’ve been deadlifting like 250 pounds since I was sixteen.”

“He has a lot to make up for,” Lawson snickered.

“Uh - I’m Travis.” TK ignored Lawson, taking a step back and sticking out his hand to Patrick. “TK is fine, too.”

Patrick’s hand was warm and big - TK’s hands weren’t small, but Patrick’s hands were distractedly large. His cheeks were bright red and his eyes were wide.

“Nolan,” Patrick - Nolan - said lowly. “Patty’s fine. Or Pat. Or, whatever”

“Pats, you literally fell for him,” Kevin said. Nolan pulled back to glare at Kevin, who shivered dramatically. “Oooh, did the room just get colder?”

“Anyway,” Travis said loudly, gesturing to Lawson. “This asshole is Lawson.”

“Hey, man,” Law nodded, holding out his fist. “You played well, even if you guys lost.”

“We were going to go out, but a couple of us might just come back to mine if that’s all good?” Kevin asked when Patrick - Nolan - _ Patty _\- and Lawson had finished bumping knuckles. “You can drive back with Pats and I?”

“Sounds good,” Law nodded.

Kevin was having a silent conversation with Nolan, full of eyebrow wiggling and hand gestures from Kevin and blank looks from Nolan. Eventually, he nodded slightly and Kevin turned to face Travis and Lawson with a wide grin.

“Let’s go, then.”

Travis wasn’t sure he wanted to know.


	3. Chapter 3

The drive back to Kevin and Patty’s was filled with Kevin’s chatter - Nolan was nodding absentmindedly, almost definitely not paying any attention to what Kevin was saying, instead fiddling with the radio. It was surreal, sitting in the back of Kevin’s Range Rover with Lawson, listening to Nolan Patrick grunt along to his babbling. 

“Laughts is going to meet us there, he’s just taking a bit longer to cool down,” Kevin tossed over his shoulder. “The rest of the guys are going home to lick their wounds, so I thought we may as well just stay in. I have beer and like. Tequila.”

“Beer is fine,” Travis winced. “I’ll get war flashbacks to university if I even look at a bottle of tequila.”

“Fair enough.” Kevin paused. “Don’t let me forget to talk to you about  _ the thing _ when Scotty leaves.”

“The shebang?” Travis sighed.

“The shebang,” Kevin laughed, pulling into the parking garage.

Kevin’s place was nice - penthouse apartment with walls of floor to ceiling windows that must be a bitch to keep clean and a private elevator that opened into a living room bigger than Lawson and TK’s whole apartment combined. The sofa was definitely bigger than TK’s bedroom, but before Kevin had even gestured to them to sit his phone rang.

“Yep?” He listened for a minute. “Chill.” He listened for another minute. “Yeah, no, I’m sure we can manage one more.” He hung up and turned to Nolan. “Pats, Laughts here. Go let him in.”

“Why can’t you let him in?” Nolan complained, even as he left the apartment. He was still in his gameday suit and the view was fantastic; Travis  _ definitely  _ didn’t take the opportunity to check out his magnificent ass.

“I saw that,” Kevin said loudly when the elevator - because there was a private elevator into their apartment - had closed after him.

Travis’s eyes snapped back to his. “Saw what?”

“Your healthy respect for Patty’s ass,” Kevin snickered with a nod to the elevator door.

“I have never - I have never looked at another man’s ass in my life,” TK sputtered. “To say I have is frankly, disgusting -”

Kevin was still laughing when Scott and Nolan came back, a man TK recognized as Travis Sanheim also in tow. 

“What’s so funny?” Nolan asked; he didn’t look like he really wanted the answer. 

“He’s being homophobic.” Travis ignored Kevin’s protestations and turned to Laughton and Sanheim, extending a fist. “We haven’t met. I’m Travis.”

“Scott Laughton,” Scott said, bringing his fist to meet Travis’s. He turned to Lawson and did the same. 

“Travis Sanheim,” Sanheim added. “Boys call me Sanny if you don’t want to get Travises confused.”

“TK, then,” Travis responded, bumping knuckles with him.

“I have to get out of this monkey suit,” Kevin complained, tugging at his tie. Both he and Nolan left the room, presumably to change, and Scott - who must have changed at home - threw himself into an armchair, Sanheim sitting less forcefully next to Lawson.

“Tell me about yourselves, Kevin’s new friends,” Scott prompted.

“Not much to say,” Travis shrugged. 

“Great talk, bud,” Sanny laughed. 

“I teach kindergarten,” Travis groaned, rubbing his hands over his eyes. “I should be better at the ‘let’s go in a circle and tell one thing about ourselves’ shit.”

“Oh, for sure?” Sanny straightened in his chair. “That’s so cool.”

“Teeks usually gets ‘how do you manage that’,” Lawson laughed. 

Sanny waved a hand. “Kids are fucking wild, bro, the shit they come up with.”

“Don’t I know it.” Mentioning his kids was a sure fire way to break any uncomfortable ‘first meeting’ tension; Travis started to tell him a story about little Hannah Hunter, who was a firecracker he had this year, who refused to let anyone treat her less because she was a girl. By the time Kevin and Nolan came back, all four of them were laughing, even Law who’d heard all about Hannah H. before. 

“She said that? To his face?”

Travis nodded. “I almost had to leave the room. He fucking deserved it, though.”

“What’s all this, then?” Kevin tossed out beers before throwing himself on to the sofa next to Travis, almost pushing him off. Nolan sat quietly in the armchair not being used by his teammate, hair now tucked up into a beanie. He looked unbearably soft - Travis wanted to mess him up. But that was neither here nor there.

“Teeks was just telling us about a student of his,” Scott explained. “I have so much respect for her. Fucking crazy.”

“I teach kindergarten,” Travis explained to Nolan, ignoring that apparently he was ‘Teeks’ to Scott now. “She’s a spitfire, for sure. She isn’t afraid to stand up for herself, because she hates when people treat her like she’s fragile or something just because she’s a little girl. Sometimes that comes with - consequences. Like yelling at other male teachers.”

“Little girls are fucking hardcore, dude,” Nolan added, taking a small sip of his beer as TK sent him a wide grin because, yeah, little girls  _ are _ fucking hardcore. Nolan choked slightly on the sip he took, cheeks flushing.

“You okay, man?” Kevin asked. He didn’t seem too worried, and in fact looked to be hiding a grin.

“Yeah, sorry,” Nolan mumbled, thumbing at the label on his bottle. “Went down the wrong way.”

“That’s what you get for teaching a group of mouthy toddlers about feminism,” Law remarked. “Like, good on you, Trav, but you should have expected that.”

“There’s always one or two,” Travis sighed dramatically. He took a deep swig of his beer. “The kids aren’t the problem, it’s the parents. Apparently I,” he made quotations in the air with his fingers, “‘am inspiring sexism’.”

“If that’s inspiring sexism, inspire away,” Kevin concluded. “You wanna inspire sexism across the entire NHL?”

“I feel like teaching NHL players would probably be about the same as teaching kindergartners,” Travis said thoughtfully. 

“I’m sure you have some students that are smarter than pro athletes.” Scott raised a brow.

“Oh, definitely,” TK laughed. “No one ever claimed that pro athletes had to be intelligent.”

“Hey, now,” Kevin said. “I went to  _ college. _ ”

“So did I, bud,” Travis replied, patting his shoulder. “You’re not special.”

“Sorry, not to be weird -” Scott interrupted. “But you look  _ super  _ familiar.”

TK felt his shoulders stiffen. This shouldn’t surprise him - in fact, he’d been waiting for it most of the night. He was surprised Nolan and Sanny hadn’t recognized him, but they were in different leagues in juniors. Laughton was in the O at the same time as him, even if it was only for a year. He remembered playing against Oshawa, remembered 2012 draft prospect Scott Laughton tearing it up on the ice.

Travis cleared his throat. “Um, I think we played against each other in the O a few times. I played for  67's for a few years.”

“Dude, what the hell, why didn’t I know this?” Kevin exclaimed loudly. He looked genuinely offended, even though he’d only known Travis for two days, and had never played in the O, or been Canadian.

“You didn’t ask?” Travis said, somewhat sheepishly. Kevin grumbled something about ‘betrayal’.

“Were you any good?” Scott asked, ignoring Kevin. That seemed to be a recurring theme of being friends with Kevin.

Lawson snorted. “He was fucking elite.”

Travis rolled his eyes. “I was a kid, I was hardly elite.” He turned to Scott. “I was okay.”

“Whatever, buddy,” Lawson said, making eye contact with Nolan like he could empathize; though, maybe both having an idiot for a best friend gave them something to bond over.

“I got injured when I was seventeen,” Travis explained with a shrug. “Had to stop playing.”

Scott looked like he was thinking hard; probably too hard, it looked like it hurt. 

“Don’t hurt yourself thinking, dude,” Travis commented. 

“I didn’t catch your last name?”

“I didn’t throw it,” Travis smiled around the neck of his bottle. Lawson groaned loudly, but Kevin found it hilarious apparently; he was trying to laugh while simultaneously attempting to convey something with his eyebrows to Nolan, who was blushing again. “But it’s Konecny.”

Scott thought for another minute, before his expression cleared and he leaned forward in his seat. “Dude -  _ dude, _ you were the top draft pick in the OHL my final year.”

Travis winced. “Guilty.”

“You were  _ okay? _ ”  Laughts yelled. He hit TK on the shoulder. “Dude, you were the captain of Team Canada.”

“Only for the Ivan Hlinka.” 

“‘Only for the Ivan Hlinka’ the man says,” Scott scoffed. “You were a top draft prospect. You were a big deal.”

Travis scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah. Guess I was.”

“Sucks, dude,” Scott commiserated.

“Didn’t recognize him without his good boy draft prospect haircut, did you?” Lawson laughed.

“We all had one of those,” Kevin nodded. “Pat’s was particularly good boy, and now look at him.” Nolan ducked away from Kevin’s hand before it could knock his hat off and touch his hair.

“I grew my hair out so people would stop bothering me on the street in Toronto,” Travis joked. 

“You’re from Toronto?” Sanny asked.

“Southwest of Toronto by a couple hours,” Travis shrugged. “But I went to Toronto for school.”

“Leafs fan?” Scott asked.

Travis mimed vomiting. 

“He’s been a Flyers fan since birth,” Lawson sighed, rubbing the back of TK’s neck. 

“Really?” Nolan asked, speaking for the first time in a while; his eyes were calculating as they watched Lawson’s thumb stroke the side of TK’s neck. “Not too many Canadians - or anyone out of Philly - grow up Flyers fans.”

“My grandmother was a huge Flyers fan,” Travis explained. “I couldn’t tell you why, ha. My brother and I followed in her footsteps, I guess.”

“Do you still play at all?” Having Nolan’s full attention made him feel too warm all over.

“I’ve been trying to convince him to join a beer league some of his coworkers are on,” Lawson interjected. “I’m slowly getting there.”

“All of my gear is back home!” Travis whined. It was a familiar argument.

Lawson pursed his lips. “Oh, like you couldn’t get your parents to bring it down with them.”

“Yeah, yeah,  _ you  _ join.” Travis rolled his eyes. He’d join when he was ready.

Lawson just rolled his eyes in return.

Scott raised his beer in a toast, realizing it was empty when he tried to take another sip. He laughed and stood up. “Anyone want another beer?”

“Make yourself at home, dude,” Kevin called after him. When Scott just flipped him off, he got up and followed him into the kitchen.

“You okay?” Lawson asked lowly. Travis nodded. Nolan was staring at him with an unreadable expression on his face; Travis was starting to suspect that was his default expression. 

Sanny was probably dicking around on Instagram. 

“Yeah, man,” TK responded just as softly. “All good.”

Kevin and Scott came back after that, passing out beers. Travis hadn’t finished his, but accepted the fresh one anyway. It was nice; it felt like being on the road in juniors, shooting the shit with his teammates. Eventually Laughts couldn’t hold back his yawns, though, and decided to head off. Sanny got up with him, hiding his own yawn in the back of his hand.

“Super nice to meet both of you,” Scott said to Law and TK, slapping them both on the back. “Sorry if I made things a bit weird.”

“Nah, dude,” Travis said. “All good.”

The two Flyers left, Sanny with a salute and Scott with a matching - more mocking - one. Kevin immediately turned to Travis.

“Okay, so the shebang.”

“What, no foreplay?” Travis raised a brow. “I’m not that kind of gal.”

“Who needs foreplay?”

“I feel for any girls you’ve slept with,” Lawson deadpanned.

“I feel bad for any girls he’s spoken to in general,” Nolan mumbled.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m sexually disappointing,” Kevin waved it away. When you were a millionaire pro athlete you probably didn’t need to be sexually fulfilling; Travis stopped that line of thought in its tracks. Definitely not thoughts he should be having when Nolan Patrick was sprawled in an armchair mere feet away, legs spread and sweatpants pulled tight across thighs that were - well. Lawson could attest to exactly what TK’s thoughts about Nolan Patrick’s thighs were. “The shebang.”

“Can we stop calling it the shebang?” Travis pushed any thoughts of Nolan Patrick’s -  _ Patty’s,  _ because they were acquaintances now - thighs out of his mind.

“No.”

“It sounds absolutely horrific with your accent,” Travis groaned. 

“The shebang!” Kevin said loudly. Nolan jumped in his armchair, startled. Travis refused to find it endearing.

“Right then.” TK rolled his eyes. “What have you got for me?”

Kevin paused, probably for ‘dramatic effect’ before gesturing wildly towards Nolan. “Ta da!” 

He couldn’t - he definitely couldn't mean what Travis thought he meant. Nolan was blushing, though, and fiddling with his shirt sleeves.

“What.” Travis’s tongue was like lead in his mouth. This - he couldn’t - he  _ refused  _ -

“Your parents will be very impressed with a strapping young man like Patso.” He reached across and smacked Patty on the shoulder. “Right, Pats?”

Nolan’s glare was very impressive, but it was obvious Kevin was immune. Lawson was holding his breath - probably to keep laughter in - and looked about two seconds from passing out from lack of oxygen.

Travis cleared his throat. “I had no idea you were gay.”

“I’m not in the closet technically, the team and my friends and family know.” Nolan ran a hand through his hair. “Obviously it’s not, like, public.”

“Obviously I wouldn’t like - tell anyone,” Travis assured him. “I was outed in the O and it ended up ending my career so like, I would never put anyone in that situation and my family saw what I went through and wouldn’t say anything either - can someone please shut me up?”

“Trav,” Lawson started, patting him on the knee. “I’m almost positive nothing can shut you up.”

Travis glared at him before turning to Nolan, who was ducking his head slightly. “Anyway! I’m sure Hayesy has explained what my dumb ass did.”

Nolan looked up, mouth twitching in what Travis had come to understand was him trying to hide a smile. It was suddenly TK’s life mission to get a full body laugh out of him. “My parents have been bothering me about finding a boyfriend, too. I’ll fake in front of your family for Christmas if you fake in front of mine for New Years.”

That sounded fair, but TK’s head was still reeling. 

“Sounds -” He cleared his throat. “Sounds good.”

They’d have to talk it over, exchange numbers and rules and actually learn things about each other - should he make flashcards? - but for now Travis was severely freaking out.

Fuck.

“Nice!” Kevin grinned. “That’s settled.”

“Is it?” Travis squeaked.

“Well, my job is settled,” Kevin shrugged.

“Yeah, yeah,” Nolan sighed, getting up. “I’m going to bed.”

“At least say goodbye to your boyfriend.” Kevin smiled widely. “Give him a smooch.”

“That’s not necessary -” But Nolan was already halfway across the room, cheeks redder than Travis had ever seen.

“Goodbye,” he said softly.

“Bye, bud,” Travis responded just as softly. Nolan seemed to hesitate before leaning down quickly and pressing a small kiss against TK’s now burning cheek; or he would have, if TK hadn’t turned his head slightly in his confusion. Instead Nolan’s lips caught on the corner of his mouth, chapped but warm and unexpectedly soft.

“Goodbye,” Nolan repeated, before turning on his heel and striding out of the room. He nodded to Lawson on the way out, but completely ignored Kevin.

“So - that was a good start?” Kevin grinned. Travis was too busy trying not to swoon to punch the smile off of his face.

-

The Uber ride home was quiet, TK for once gathering his thoughts instead of just speaking them before he had a chance to think them through. Lawson was letting him, but he was looking over with concern every time they stopped at a red light.

Lawson thanked the driver and led the way into their building. Coming from Kevin’s penthouse apartment with its walls of windows, their own apartment looked like squalor. But it was home, from the second hand sofa to the Live Laugh Love decal on their bathroom door that they hadn’t gotten rid of because it was a gift from Lawson’s parents. The tiny table in the kitchen that Travis sat at every night, either putting ‘Good Job!’ stickers on worksheets or making lesson plans.

It was home, and the fact that NHL money could afford more didn’t matter. Travis threw himself dramatically onto their lumpy excuse of a sofa, covering his eyes with an arm.

“You alive dude?” Lawson poked him.

TK exhaled loudly. “Define - alive?”

“I’m pretty sure your heart stopped beating.”   


“You almost passed out from containing your laughter.”

“I didn’t kiss Nolan Patrick.”

Travis threw himself onto his stomach and buried a scream into a throw pillow. His world was ending, Lawson should have a little more compassion.

“What, you’re going to get to canoodle with your hockey crush and your life is ending?” Lawson scoffed when Travis parroted that thought to him.

“What if he finds out I’m a fan?”

“Bud, I think he already knows you’re a fan. Because you told him you’ve been a Flyers fan your whole life.”

Travis screamed into the pillow again, but before he could respond otherwise his phone vibrated in his pocket. He wriggled to pull it out and saw it was an unknown number.

**Unknown:**

_ Hey, this is Patty. _

**Sent: **

_ Sorry, who? _

He got an unimpressed emoji in return.

“Nolan Patrick uses emojis.”

“He’s not, like, God, bud.” Lawson laughed slightly. “He is just a normal guy, you know.”

Travis sent him a pointed look. “Does Nolan Patrick seem like the type of guy to use emojis?”

“I mean, he doesn't seem like the type of guy to do _anything, _considering how private he is.”

**Sent:**

_ What’s up man? _

“Is what’s up too casual?” Travis asked. Lawson paused in gathering a few dirty plates from the coffee table to shoot him a look.

“I’m not psychoanalyzing your texts with Nolan Patrick like we’re at a sleepover and your crush is texting you for the first time. Even if your crush  _ is _ texting you for the first time.”

He dodged TK’s jab to the shoulder, laughing his way into the kitchen.

**Pattycakes:**

_ We should probably meet up somewhere Kevin is breathing over my shoulder. _

**Sent:**

_ He’s kinda omnipresent  _

“I just used omnipresent in a text?” Travis called. He wasn’t sure why he posed it as a question, but Lawson stuck his head out from the kitchen.

“I don’t know you.”

Travis whined. “What if he thinks I’m pretentious?”

He ducked back into the kitchen. “No one has ever thought you were pretentious.”

**Pattycakes:**

_ Buzzword _

**Sent:**

_ I /am/ a teacher _

Lawson dropped down next to him, handing him a glass of water and a muffin. Lawson was the best, actually, Travis took back anything he’s ever said otherwise.

**Pattycakes:**

_ You don't need a wide vocab to teach kindergartners _

What did he know, huh? He didn’t even go to college.

**Sent:**

_ That’s what you think _

_ Those little shits ask way too many questions _

_ You have to be able to talk yourself out of corners _

**Pattycakes:**

_ Are you supposed to call your students little shits? _

**Sent:**

_ Not to their faces ;) _

“Is a winky emoji too suggestive?”

Lawson sighed. “Do you want to be suggestive?”

“I mean, I’m not  _ opposed  _ but he’s also doing me a huge favor, so I don’t want to be creepy.” Travis worried his bottom lip between his teeth.

“You’re also doing  _ him  _ a huge favor,” Lawson pointed out, which, true.

His phone vibrated before he could respond; Patty had sent an eye rolling emoji in return. A winky face wasn’t too suggestive, then.

**Pattycakes:**

_ When are you available to meet up? _

**Sent: **

_ School breakkkkkkk _

_ So i’m free almost every day _

_ So your schedule is the one that has to be worked around _

**Pattycakes:**

_ We have a day off tomorrow _

“Do I have plans for tomorrow?”

“I’m not your mother.” Lawson paused, because he knew Travis's schedule by heart and Travis knew it. “But yes, you’re going to pick up your dog.”

That put a smile on his face, even as he winced.

**Sent:**

_ Oof  _

_ of course i’m busy on your day off _

Travis paused, a rare thought crossing his mind.

**Sent:**

_ Actually! _

_ You wanna come with? _

_ The husband can’t bc he’s going out for lunch with his girl _

**Pattycakes:**

_ The….husband? _

**Sent:**

_ Lawson _

Patty - who’d been texting back instantly - didn’t respond, even though his read receipts were on and it was apparent he’d read it. 

**Sent:**

_ We’re not actually married _

_ Tho there was a close call once _

_ Vegas, you know _

_ But he’s like my brother  _

Nolan’s reply was instantaneous; maybe he’d had to go to the bathroom, or Kevin was bothering him. The latter was incredibly likely, because Kevin was very bothersome.

**Pattycakes:**

_ Good to know. You never told me what we’re doing tomorrow? _

Travis noted the ‘we’ and tried not to get too excited.

**Sent:**

_ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! _

Okay, he may possibly have failed the ‘don’t get too excited’, but when faced with the possibility of Nolan Patrick and his beautiful second daughter? Could anyone really blame him?

**Sent:**

_ Im collecting my puppy!!!!!! _

_ Well, she’s not a puppy _

_ She’s like 7 _

_ But im going to the shelter tomorrow if u want to come and pet some animals? _

**Pattycakes:**

_ Sounds good. What sorta time? _

**Sent:**

_ Noon?  _

_ We can get lunch first _

**Pattycakes:**

_ Sounds good.  _

**Sent:**

_ Pretty sure i remember your address _

_ I’ll text u/kevin if i get lost _

_ Seeya bud! _

**Pattycakes: **

_ seeya _

Travis put his phone down slowly. “Nolan Patrick...is coming with me tomorrow...to collect Honey.”

“Oh my god,” Lawson laughed. “Of course your first date is to a dog shelter. Do you want to take him fishing now? Maybe hunting?”

“God, I wish,” Travis sighed. “Kevin said he’s into that.”

“Oh, bud,” Lawson sighed back, shaking his head. “You’re fucked.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God sorry this took so long! My laptop broke which made it difficult to post. 
> 
> Also! I added a few paragraphs to a previous chapter (when they're watching the Leafs play Canucks and discussing TK's Team Canada career) and while it's not pertinent to the story as of right now, it may be later!

“Did that shirt shrink in the wash?”

“Huh?” Travis looked up from where he was trying to tie his shoes in peace.

“It looks particularly tight around the arms,” Lawson continued from where he was lounging on TK's bed; he always seemed to be lounging on TK's bed. Law probably spent more time in his bed than any romantic and/or sexual partners he’s had in the last two years.

Travis hesitated for a beat too long. “What, you wouldn’t believe that I’ve gotten extra swole lately?”

“If you ever say swole again in my presence I’m kicking you out.” Lawson smirked. “Also, no.”

Travis ignored him and pulled out his phone.

**Sent:**

_ If i got kicked out for saying the word swole could i stay on ur big ass sofa until i find a new place? _

Kevin's response was instant; he really needed to get a life, jeez. Millennials and their phones.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ You can have pat’s bed _

_ He can sleep on the sofa _

_ Unless…….. _

Travis was one text away from throwing his phone out the window. Even his rock hard, brick of a phone case - which he'd spent 20 bucks on because he was always dropping his phone - wouldn't be able to save it.

**Sent:**

_ If u finish that sentence i will kill you _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ U didn’t know what i was going to say! _

Travis just sent back an unimpressed emoji and locked his phone.

“So,” Lawson continued. “Tight shirt, tight jeans. Showing off your best assets to collect your dog?”

“Honey deserves the best.” Travis turned up his nose. It wasn’t a lie, she did deserve the best, but she probably wasn't interested in his biceps. He was gay, alright, he was allowed to show off his best assets to a cute boy and not have it be a thing.

“Oh, yes, of course," Lawson drawled. "Because it has nothing to do with the lunch date you are attending with a certain hockey player.”

“I have no idea what you mean," Travis said, tying his other shoe.

Lawson looked at him for a moment, tilting his head to the side. “You’d make a pretty okay WAG, actually.”

The look Travis sent him was as incredulous as a look can be. What in hell's name. “Oh, do go on.”

“Like," Lawson started, waving a hand in TK's general direction. "You may be a brunette and a dude and not that attractive and you don’t have a _ lot _of great or redeeming qualities but you can cook, you’re good with kids, you volunteer and shit, you’re a sap when it comes to rescue animals…”

“What did you do,” Travis sighed.

Lawson looked genuinely offended. "What the hell, dude, why do you think I did something?”

“Because you’re never nice to me unless you did something wrong," Travis explained, putting his hands on his hips.

“See if I ever pay you a compliment again!” Lawson gasped.

“I mean, you did preface it with ‘you’re unattractive and don’t have a lot of good qualities’, so it wasn’t all that nice,” Travis shrugged. “Still.”

“Can’t a man hype up his buddy before a date?”

“Not when that man's name is Lawson Crouse." Travis paused. "And it’s not a date.”

Lawson hummed but got out of bed. "I actually just came in to let you know I'm heading out."

"Lunch date? You're getting old."

Lawson ignored that but stopped before he left TK's room to rest a hand on Travis's shoulder. "I do mean it, though," he added with a soft smile. "You're a great guy, and a good friend - the best. Anyone _ would _ be lucky to have you."

Travis felt a familiar overwhelming rush of fondness for Lawson. Lawson, who'd seen TK at his worst. Who'd dragged him out of the hole of depression he'd fallen into after his injury kicking and screaming, who'd been there when his concussion was so bad he could barely open his eyes without crying from the pain. Who'd fought every homophobic asshole that tossed slurs in TK's direction, even when everyone else turned a blind eye to it.

Boys will be boys, and all that. 

He shook those thoughts out of his head and dragged Lawson into a hug. "I love you, man. Not sure where I would be without you."

Lawson pulled back and pressed a kiss to TK's forehead. "I love you, too."

Travis pushed him away, hoping he didn't notice him wiping his eyes. "Go on, you have your own WAG to get to."

"Have fun on your date!" Lawson tossed over his shoulder as he left. "Make him pay for lunch, he's a millionaire."

All fondness Travis had felt for him disappeared.

"Get fucked, Crouse," he yelled instead of throwing something at his head. All Law did was cackle and close the door behind him.

Travis exhaled loudly as soon as Lawson had left. He could do this, he could totally do this. He could take Nolan Patrick out for lunch and not make a big deal out of it. It wasn’t a big deal, he was just pretending to have Nolan Patrick as his boyfriend. Totally - totally cool. Not a big deal at all.

He’s pretty sure he was going to die, actually.

-

“Of fucking course,” Travis groaned aloud to himself. He smacked his frustration against the steering wheel before apologizing to the car. It wasn’t her fault he was poor - she didn’t know that the worst day to not start was this one. He could technically still get Honey if he took the bus; if not, it wouldn’t be the end of the world to pick her up another day this week.

But it was 11:15. He was meant to be picking up Nolan at noon for their “date” - or, something. Whatever Nolan wanted to call it. Whatever Nolan called it, he was meant to be going to lunch with Nolan Patrick. 

But instead his car decided it wasn’t going to start. He really couldn’t afford this right now, neither emotionally or fiscally, so God knows when he’d be able to get it fixed. Hopefully it just needed a jump and he wouldn’t have to put everything on a credit card. But Lawson wasn’t home, so that would have to wait. He pulled out his phone with a sigh.

Surprisingly, Nolan answered after the first ring. He was expecting to leave a message, God knows _ he _doesn’t tend to answer his phone; though, he can admit he’d definitely answer the phone if Nolan was calling, but Travis was also ashamedly attracted to him.

“Yeah?”

“Hey, man, it’s TK.”

There was an amused hum. “I could tell by the contact name.”

“You’re a hockey player, wasn’t sure you could read.” TK winced at the automatic response.

Nolan chuckled lowly. “Never heard that one before. Is there a reason you’re calling me?”

“I’m going to have to reschedule.”

“Oh.” There was a hint of disappointment in his monotone voice, most likely because he'd cleared his schedule for nothing. Or that he'd miss hanging out with animals.

“Yeah, my car won’t start.”

_ “Oh.” _

“Sorry, man.”

Nolan huffed. "Believe it or not, I have a car. Give me your address, I’ll pick you up.”

“You don’t have to, we can reschedule -”

“Travis," he said firmly, leaving no room for objections. There definitely _ wasn't _a shiver up TK's spine at his tone. 

“Okay, okay," TK laughed, ignoring the shiver that _ definitely hadn't occurred. _

“See you soon.”

He was hung up on before he could respond. Travis texted his address to Nolan and got out of his car with a sigh. Today was not going great.

Forty minutes of pacing in his living room later - sorry, downstairs neighbors - his phone buzzed; he didn't answer until the third ring, because he didn't want to seem desperate. God forbid.

“Hey, I think I’m outside.”

“Right, yeah, sorry, I’ll be right down.”

For the second time in an hour he was hung up on by Nolan Patrick.

He hurried to get his shoes and jacket on, patting his pockets to make sure he didn’t forget anything. He grabbed the bag with Honey’s things in it last and took a deep breath before leaving his apartment. He could totally do this.

“Sorry I took so long,” Nolan said, rolling down the window of his Range Rover. Did all Flyers drive Range Rovers? Weren't all athletes meant to drive sports cars? “I had to stop and put gas in my car.”

“You still made good time,” TK shrugged as he opened the passenger side door. 

“Did you want to go somewhere in particular for lunch?” Nolan asked, adjusting his mirrors. He seemed to be full of restless energy, fiddling with the radio and adjusting his mirrors about ten times before they'd even pulled out onto the street.

“There’s a cafe around the corner from the shelter I thought we could go to,” Travis answered with another shrug. “It’s in the suburbs, so you shouldn’t have a problem with parking or being recognized.”

Nolan nodded, finally pulling out of his parking spot. He was quiet as he followed the directions TK gave, but TK had never met a silence he couldn’t fill. 

“Kevin said you liked fishing and hunting?” He wasn’t sure he posed it like a question. Kevin did say that; in fact it was pretty much the first thing he said.

Nolan nodded. “I fished a lot in the summer growing up, and my family is big into hunting. You?”

Travis grinned and began to tell him about the pond he and his brother had stocked, which segwayed into stories from his childhood. They weren’t the most interesting stories, not by a mile, but they were meant to be learning about each other, afterall. 

"My mom is better with a shotgun than my dad - better than anyone in the family - so I tended to hunt with her and fish with my dad," Travis explained.

"My - um - my family uses a lot of - old shit? Like, bows and spears and shit," Nolan mumbled.

It wasn't often Travis was left speechless, but he was certain that he'd never picture anything more attractive than Nolan Patrick throwing a spear. 

"What?" Nolan was blushing, probably assuming he was being made fun of. "It's not that weird."

Travis cleared his throat. "No, that's really cool. I know who I'd want on my team in an apocalypse, eh?"

Nolan rolled his eyes but didn't respond. Travis took that as his cue and started rambling about himself again. Nolan nodded along, like he was cataloguing everything TK was saying instead of just ignoring it like most do.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the cafe. Nolan managed to find parking easily enough; they’d walk round to the shelter from the cafe, so he parked on the street. 

It was a small cafe, barely a hole in the wall, but Nolan seemed to like it.

“So this thing,” Nolan started once they were seated and had been brought water by the server, staring at his menu like it contained all the secrets to the universe.

“The shebang?”

Nolan looked up to glare at that, but TK just grinned back. 

"Kevin keeps calling it that. He thinks it's _so_ _funny_." 

Travis laughed. "Kevin thinking he's funny seems to be a reoccurring theme."

Nolan just sighed. 

Travis rested his elbows on the table and steepled his fingers. “So the thing."

"The thing." Nolan leant back slightly, like he was bracing himself.

"Ground rules, boundaries, what do you expect or need, is there anything in particular I should know?” Travis shot off rapidly. He’d discussed it again with Lawson this morning, and had a list folded up in his pocket in case he forgot something. Making flashcards were still on the table, of course.

“Um.” Nolan cleared his throat. He looked overwhelmed, and they hadn’t even been here five minutes. 

“Hey,” Travis said softly. He tried not to accidentally speak in his ‘teacher speaking to an overwhelmed child voice’ but it came dangerously close. “Think of it in terms of hockey. This is just a play, yeah?”

Nolan pursed his lips. “Are we a power play, then?”

“Maybe penalty kill, however you want to look at it,” Travis grinned. “A special team, definitely, though.”

“Sure you’re good enough to be on my line?” Nolan raised an eyebrow.

“Hey, I was drafted first in the OHL. Before Dylan Strome _ and _Mitch Marner.”

Nolan rolled his eyes but seemed a bit more at ease.

Travis leant back and tried to make his body language look more open. “How about I name something and you tell me if you’re okay with it?” 

Nolan nodded and poured himself a glass of water from the pitcher the waiter had placed on their table with the menus. Without prompting he filled TK’s as well.

“How about what touching you're okay with.”

“Um -” Nolan cleared his throat, blush taking over his cheeks. “Nothing explicit, but I don't think we’d be able to fool our parents without touching.”

“Hand holding? Hugging? Arms around waists and shoulders?” 

“Sounds good.”

“Nothing too bad," Travis assured. "But I’m a pretty tactile person.”

Nolan nodded his agreement. 

“Pet names?” TK continued.

“Nothing against them.”

“Noted.” Travis paused. “Sugarplum.”

“No," Nolan said immediately, voice flat.

TK snickered. “Cutie patootie. Gumdrop. Snookums.”

“Absolutely not.”

Travis brought a hand to his heart and puckered his lips. “Jujubee. Tubba Wubba. Snugglufagus.”

“What the fuck, there’s no way any of those are actual pet names.” Nolan shook his head.

“Anything can be a pet name if you try hard enough," Travis pointed out with a laugh.

“Well, stop trying. _ Please," _Nolan said through gritted teeth. 

Travis waited a beat, dropping his hands to rest on the table.

“Babe. Sweetheart,” he said softly, tilting his head to the side. Patty’s eyes, which had been darting around the cafe, snapped to meet his. _ “Darling.” _

Nolan’s blush was back in full force; he glanced down, before looking up at Travis from under his lashes. 

It was a devastating sight.

He cleared his throat. “Those last three are okay but if you call me Tubba Wubba I’m breaking up with you,” Nolan threatened.

“Noted,” Travis laughed. “Now - the kicker - kissing.”

Nolan’s blush travelled down his neck; Travis would kill a man to see how far it goes. 

“Again, nothing explicit.”

“Cheek, then?” Nolan nods. “Don’t worry, I already told my parents you were shy.”

“I’m not _ shy -” _Nolan started to protest.

“Pat,” Travis interrupted. “It’s okay to be shy.”

“I usually get ‘standoffish’ and ‘rude’ instead of shy,” Nolan mumbled. 

“Luckily, I’m gregarious enough for both of us.”

One side of Patty’s mouth lifted. “Buzzword.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Travis said with a grin and a roll of his eyes.

“Have you two decided on anything?” the waiter said, interrupting before Nolan could chirp back. Travis smiled at him before reciting the same order he got every time. 

“Family talk, then?” Nolan asked without prompting as they handed their menus to the waiter. 

“Family talk.”

”It'll be my parents and my sisters you’ll have to deal with. I have two sisters, Aimee and Madison. They’re both coming down.” 

“Anything I should know?”

Nolan groaned and rubbed his hands against his eyes. “God, they’re going to embarrass the fuck out of me.”

“I’m looking forward to it," Travis leered. Nolan ignored him. 

“Mads is older than me and graduated two years ago. She plays professionally, too.”

Travis nodded before parsing what he'd said. “Wait, like - Madison Patrick, Metropolitan Riveters Madison Patrick?” 

Nolan paused in bringing his water to his mouth. “You watch women’s hockey?”

“Uh, yeah, of course," Travis said. "The Rivs are my favorite NWHL team, not that there’s many to choose from.”

Nolan set his water down without taking a sip. His eyes were wide. “Uh, yeah. That Madison Patrick.”

“Dude. How the fuck did I not put that together?" TK felt like a failure. "Do you think she’d sign my jersey?” 

“You have my sister’s jersey?” There was a strange look on Nolan's face; Travis didn't know him well enough to quite translate it.

“Not hers specifically," TK shrugged. "Just a standard one without a name.” 

“That would be -" Pat shook his head. "Yeah, she’d definitely do that.”

Travis fist pumped slightly. “Nice.”

Nolan looked down, a strand of hair escaping from his beanie and falling in front of his eyes. "I think it's really cool that you watch women's hockey."

"It's hockey, you know?" Travis took a sip of water. "A lot of female players are better than male ones, anyway."

"Still, it's pretty cool."

Travis smiled widely. "Go on, enough about me. Tell me about your other sister."

Nolan tucked his hair back under his beanie. “Aimes is younger than me, and she just started university.”

"Does she play?"

"She did, yeah, but she stopped playing when she went to university."

There was a small yet fond smile on his face as he talked about his sisters.

“I told you about my brother.” Nolan nodded, taking another sip of his water. “My grandfather - who you won’t meet - lives with my parents. My nan died a few years ago, so he’s been with them since.”

“I’m sorry.” He sounded like he meant it, too.

Travis looked down at his hands. “I’m not going to say I’m okay or over it or whatever, but I have way too many good memories to let grief tarnish it, ya know?”

“I get that.”

“She’s the reason I’m a Flyers fan," Travis added.

“You mentioned.”

“She used to play ball hockey with us. Goalie,” Travis laughed fondly. “Chase, Law, and me against her. She killed us every time.”

“How do you know Lawson, then?”

“Crouser and I grew up together, as close as two houses can be in the middle of nowhere. We were drafted for the same team in the O, too. Shared billet housing and everything.”

“You’ve known him a while, then.”

“Over two decades. Can’t believe we’re not completely sick of each other.”

Nolan gave him a small grin. “I can’t _ imagine _ ever being sick of _ you. _”

Travis gaped at him. He looked almost nervous, like he wasn’t sure he could joke around with TK like this yet. It was stupidly endearing. He’d only known this boy for a _ day _ , what the fuck. “Um, first of all, rude, I am a delight. Second of all - _ fucking rude _, I am a delight.”

Nolan opened his mouth but was interrupted by the waiter placing their food in front of them.

“I do not miss having to eat like a hockey player,” Travis laughed. Nolan had about five lunches in front of him. Nolan just shrugged. “I’m not giving you money for gas now that I have to buy ten sandwiches.”

Nolan paused raising his (first) sandwich to his mouth. “It’s my treat.”

“No, come on, you’re doing me a huge favor,” Travis protested.

He just got a look in return and raised his hands in surrender, turning to his own meal.

“Got any embarrassing stories?” Nolan asked after a minute of eating in silence.

Travis placed his sandwich on his plate and narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

“Easiest way to understand someone is know all of the embarrassing things they’ve done,” Nolan shrugged.

"You just want ammunition to make fun of me.”

Nolan didn’t deny it. “I’m sure your brother will tell me them, then.”

“No, no -” Travis interrupted. “You are not allowed to ask my brother for embarrassing stories. Actually, just don’t talk to him at all.”

Nolan smirked. “I’d rather hear them from you, anyway.”

Travis groaned. “Story for story?”

“Deal.”

"If you tell Kevin this I will shit in your skates."

Nolan wrinkled his nose. "Gross, dude. But I won't tell Kevin."

“I won’t ask you for my story yet. We have a few weeks to get to know each other yet.” TK winked. “I’ll save mine.”

Nolan lifted the side of his mouth slightly. “You do that.”

TK sighed dramatically. “Alright, fine.”

It was a story Chase would definitely tell Nolan, so he may as well get it out of the way.

“That’s how you came out to them? Really?” 

“Come on,” Travis said. “Tell me you don’t think Sidney Crosby is hot for a Pen.”

“When he’s in red, yes. When he’s in yellow and black -” Nolan paused to think it over, looking around the cafe like he was afraid someone would overhear him before sighing. “Okay, yeah, then, too.”

“I knew it!”

“It’s mostly that I still can’t believe I’m playing in the same league as him,” Patty said, running his fingers through the condensation on his glass, not making eye contact. “Never thought I’d make it.”

It was obvious he didn’t want to talk about it, that he didn’t actually want to show weakness in front of a veritable stranger, which - he’d lost a whole season due to migraines, he probably _ still _wasn’t sure he’d make it. He still had people calling him a bust, saying the Flyers wasted their 2017 draft pick. Travis nudged his foot against Nolan’s under the table and sent him a smile when he looked up.

“The first time I had sex I had to take down my poster of him because I didn’t want him to watch me.”

Nolan opened his mouth to respond before a horrified look crossed his face. It was the most expressive he’d been in their two minutes of knowing each other and Travis had to stifle a laugh. “Oh, God. Sidney Crosby watched me have sex.”

TK couldn’t help it now; he burst out laughing. “Your fucking face, oh my God.”

“I’m never going to win a faceoff against him again,” Nolan groaned.

“Oh, bud,” Travis said, patting Nolan’s hand where it rested on the table; wide eyes darted from their hands to TK’s eyes, and he watched in fascination as a blush spread across Nolan’s cheeks. “Have you ever beaten him in a faceoff?”

“He’s bad at faceoffs,” Nolan huffed. “I totally have.”

“What, you don’t look up and get lost in his dreamy eyes?”

“I’ve seen dreamier,” Patty scoffed.

“Who has the dreamiest eyes in the NHL?” It was a genuine question that Travis had never put a lot of thought into. If pressed, he'd probably have to say the eyes that were fixed on him right now. 

“Not Sidney Crosby.”

TK laughed. “Well, you would know, eh?”

Nolan’s hand twitched under TK’s, who realized he hadn’t pulled away. He jerked his hand back like he’d been burned. Nolan coughed and reached for his sandwich. “So, this dog.”

Travis grinned widely, letting him change the subject. It was obvious that he went through bursts of being talkative, but was ready to be quiet again. Travis was still pretty much a stranger, afterall. Luckily, Travis always wanted to talk about his pets anyway. He had no problem filling this silence. “She’s gorgeous, the most beautiful dog you’ll ever see. She’s a rescue that I’ve been visiting for a while. She lost her leg - they’re not really sure why, but probably dog fighting - so she’s had to recover from surgery so I haven’t been able to take her home. She didn’t have a name but I’ve named her Honey because she’s so sweet.”

Nolan’s lips twitched slightly; TK could now appreciate that it was him trying not to smile. “I can’t wait to meet her, then.”

"Did you have pets, growing up?"

Nolan nodded. "Yeah, I've always had dogs. I actually got one this summer, my parents are bringing him down."

Travis grinned. "He and Honey can be friends, then."

They finished up quickly, trading tidbits about each other before Nolan called for the bill.

“My treat,” he said firmly when Travis reached to pull out his wallet, long fingers wrapping around TK's wrist. 

He couldn't deny the shiver up his spine this time. 

-

“It’s just around the corner,” Travis explained as they left the cafe. 

“I don’t really come into the suburbs a lot, so I don’t know where anything is," Nolan admitted.

“That’s okay, I come here all the time to volunteer, which is the only reason I know where anything is.”

“Yeah?”

Travis nodded. “I’ve been volunteering here since I moved to Philly. It’s easy enough to take dogs for walks, or help clean up, or work the front desk. Cuddle some animals. I wish I could help out more often, but I can usually only get a couple days a month.”

“More than most people," Nolan mumbled, adjusting his hat. "More than me.”

Travis grinned at him. “Maybe you’ll meet some puppies or kittens and fall in love with the shelter.”

“Not a cat person."

TK pointed a finger at him. "Not a cat person _ yet. _ Everyone says that until they’re confronted with a cat.”

“What, are you a cat person?”

“I have a beautiful cat and we love each other very much," Travis said in a faux haughty tone.

“What’s its name, then?”

“Her name is Bee and she’s the only woman outside of the family I’ve ever truly loved. Well, before Honey.”

“You have a cat named Bee and a dog named Honey." Nolan sends him a judgemental look. "Travis, really.”

"It's cute!" Travis protested.

Nolan shook his head. “You should have gotten a burger at the cafe.”

“Do I want to know why?” Travis asked suspiciously.

“For all that fucking cheese, idiot.”

Travis gasped dramatically. “Bold of you to call me an idiot when you just made that joke.”

“Am I wrong though?” Nolan responded, raising a brow.

Travis rubbed sheepishly at the back of his neck. “If it changes anything, Bee’s a nickname?”

“Do you call her Beatrice when she’s bad?”

“One, she’s an angel and is never bad," Travis scoffed. "Two - well. Uh it’s - it’s short for Bean Bag?” Why he posed it as a question he wasn’t sure. 

Nolan literally stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to stare at him. “You named your cat _ Bean Bag? _That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life, and I live with Kevin Hayes." 

"Hey, be nice," Travis whines. "She's wonderful."

"Never said she wasn't, just that her owner is an idiot."

Travis didn’t answer, manfully ignoring him to open the door to the shelter.

“Travis,” a voice called. He turned to see Clare walking towards them.

Clare was one of the paid workers, but he didn't see her often or know her very well because she usually worked during the school week.

“Clare,” he said when she reached them. “How are you?”

“Busy,” she sighed. “But it’s a good kind of busy.”

He patted her arm gently. Christmastime was always a busy time, lots of people getting animals for their kids.

“I’m Clare,” she said, holding out her hand to Nolan.

“Nolan,” Patty replied, shaking her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

He pulled his phone out while Clare was giving her spiel about the shelter.

**Sent:**

_ I thought patty was shy and standoffish _

_ He’s been ragging me and talking about himself for two hours _

Nolan coughed to get his attention. He locked his phone and stuffed it in his pocket, feeling like a naughty schoolboy getting caught texting during class.

Travis stopped that train of thought in its tracks before he started sounding like one of those awful roleplaying pornos.

“Sorry,” he said. “Had to text my roommate about something.”

“I was saying that we have a couple things we have to finalize that we don’t need you for, really, so you may have to wait twenty to thirty minutes.”

“That’s all good! Maybe I’ll take Nolan to the Kitten Room.”

“Kitten Room,” Nolan said flatly.

“Exactly what it sounds like, dude.”

The Kitten Room _ was _just that: a small room filled with adoptable kittens. Travis grabbed Nolan’s sleeve and dragged him down the hallway until they were standing in front of an observation window.

“That’s - a room full of kittens.”

“Yes,” Travis said slowly, like he was explaining something to his students. “That’s why it’s called the Kitten Room, bud.”

It wasn’t a huge room, but there were about two litters of kittens, one volunteer, and one family of three. Travis noticed the little girl - who looked about seven - was wearing a Flyers hoodie; she had noticed Nolan come in, and was staring blatantly, even though one of her mothers seemed to be trying to get her to stop. She turned wide eyes to Travis in a ‘can you believe it’s _ Nolan Patrick?!’ _kind of way, which he could empathize with. He brought a finger to his lips as if to say 'shh, don’t tell’. The girl seemed to understand and nodded frantically before being distracted by kittens again.

TK turned back to Patty, who had - well, he’d sat on the floor and let kittens climb all over him, hadn’t he.

Travis was dead, right? He was dead. There was no way Nolan Patrick was sitting in front of him, letting a kitten lick his face and two more try to climb his back. TK wanted to take a picture _ so badly. _

“You can,” Nolan said when Travis voiced that thought. “If you send it to me I’ll put it on instagram tomorrow or something. Promo the shelter.”

Travis grinned and thanked him, pulling out his phone. He noticed a notification from Kevin, but ignored it; he had bigger fish to fry right now. He took a handful, but the one he sent Nolan was probably the cutest thing he’d ever seen.

The same kitten was licking his chin, but he had one on his knee now, and one of the kittens trying to climb his back had succeeded and was sitting on his shoulder. He was smiling so widely his eyes were almost completely shut. If Travis wasn’t already dead - because he had to be - this would have murdered him on the spot. K fucking O.

"Thought you weren't a cat person?" Travis smirked, crossing his arms across his chest.

Nolan grumbled but didn't try and stick up for himself.

"Well, if you're ever interested in a cat but don't want a kitten, we have plenty of adolescent and adult rescues available," Travis said with his best volunteer smile.

"Shut up," Nolan said before scratching a grey tabby under its chin. The cat started purring, and if Travis hadn't died five times already _ this _would be the way he went. 

Watching a six foot two, two hundred pound hockey player rub a purring kitten against his cheek.

His inner gayboy monologue was interrupted by a knock on the window. It was Clare, who jerked her head in the direction of the reception area.

Travis walked quickly towards the door - he would deny running - but before he left the room he turned to Nolan, who was still getting up and who looked disappointed to put the kitten in his hand down.

“Actually, before we go,” Travis said quietly. “There’s a fan of yours over there that might want to meet you.”

Nolan turned to the family Travis gestured to, kitten still in his hand, and noticed the little girl who had started staring again. She looked up at her moms who both nodded before darting across the small room to stand in front of Nolan.

She smiled, gap toothed and bright. “Mr. Patrick, would you take a picture with me?”

One of her moms coughed gently.

“Please?” she added.

“For sure. But call me Patty,” Nolan responded, squatting down in front of her. “It’s what my friends call me.”

“Okay, Mr. Patty!”

Travis didn't laugh at Mr. Patty but he definitely made a mental note to mock him for it later.

“What’s your name? You know mine, it’s only fair that I know yours, eh?"

“Madison," the girl said, her grin still wide.

“Great name. Did you know I have a sister called Madison?”

_ “Really?” _Madison looked shocked and awed, like Nolan Patrick having a sister that shared her name was the best thing in the world.

“She’s older than me and plays hockey, too.”

“I play hockey!” Madison said excitedly, bouncing on her toes. “I’m goalie.”

“Goalie?" Nolan said with a grin. "Wow, goalies work hard. Do you like Carter Hart?”

“He’s my _ favorite,” _she nodded with a wide grin.

“Hartsy’s the best,” Nolan agreed. Travis silently agreed as well. 

“But you’re pretty good, too,” she made sure to add as if she didn't want to offend him.

“Thank you, that means a lot to hear.” He sounded genuine, and Travis ached a little. “Did you want a picture?”

She nodded again, her grin somehow growing wider. “Please.”

Her mom pulled out her phone and snapped a few quick photos. “Thank you, this means a lot.”

“Of course,” Nolan responded, standing up. “It was lovely to meet you. I have to go, but thank you for talking to me. I’ll make sure to tell Carter that you’re cheering for him.”

He joined Travis at the door, sending one more smile to Madison.

"Pat," Travis said. "You have to put the kitten down."

Nolan looked down at the cat in his hand, almost surprised to see it still there. "Was he in my hand the whole time?"

_ Yes, and it made me want to die, _Travis wanted to say. 

Patty turned around and walked back over to Madison and her moms. She grinned to see him.

"Hey, Madison."

"Hi, Mr. Patty!" 

"I don't know if you're looking for something in particular, but this little guy is really sweet." He placed the kitten in her waiting arms. "Just my opinion, but this guy would make a good pet."

Madison gasped and turned to her moms. "We have to get this one, Nolan Patrick said so!"

Nolan smiled before turning to follow Clare and Travis back to the reception room where Honey was waiting. She had a great big doggy version of a smile on her face, wagging her tail when Travis walked in.

“Oh my God,” Nolan breathed next to him when he saw her.

“I know!” Travis practically squealed.

She wasn’t a glamor model; three legged and missing half an ear, she wasn’t what most people called gorgeous. 

“Do you know what breed she is?” Nolan asked Clare.

“Obviously we can’t really know for sure, because we couldn’t trace her back to her previous owner,” Clare said with a shrug. “But we know she’s part pitbull, and there seems to be a little poodle in there, too.” Honey looked all pit in the face, but it was obvious by her fur that she wasn’t purebred. 

Travis had been waiting what felt like years to pick up his baby girl, and as much as he was listening to Clare talk about Honey, it wasn’t anything he hadn’t heard before. He was much more focused on the way Honey was looking up at him, and how much he wanted to hold her. 

He hoped Bee liked her - the shelter said she was good around cats, but you never really know. They were both missing an ear, Travis noted. They should be able to bond over that, at least. Bees and honey just went together, no matter how many times Law - and now Patty - had called him cheesy for naming his animals ‘Bee’ and ‘Honey’. 

“You said she’s seven?” Nolan asked, looking at Travis for confirmation. He nodded, half amazed Nolan remembered that.

“From what we can guess, yes,” Clare explained. “She was rescued a few months ago, but she’s needed some time to recover and rehab from her surgery, and get used to only having three legs.”

Honey bounded over to them - across the maybe three meters of the reception - a bit wobbly and lopsided but still strong. She didn’t hesitate to lick TK’s face, happy to see him again. It had been a couple weeks since he’d been to the shelter but by the tail wagging and the amount of doggy saliva on his face, it seemed he was forgiven. She was a bit more tentative when Patty squatted down next to him, a hand held out for her to smell, which she did after a few seconds of staring between him and Travis.

“She’s very intelligent,” Clare was saying, “but she can be a bit nervous around strangers. We haven’t known her to be aggressive, though, just a little shy. I’m sure she’ll warm up to you.”

Honey had seemed to decide he was safe and started to nuzzle against his hand, lifting her head for chin scratches. “She’s beautiful.”

Travis smiled. “Told you.”

Nolan rolled his eyes, but the expression was paired with a smile because Honey was licking all over his face. “I never said I didn’t believe you, dude.”

The thing was - Travis was very gay. He was very gay and loved hockey and animals. He was very gay and loved hockey and animals and if seeing Nolan Patrick fawn over his dog made him swoon, could anyone really blame him?

He remembered the text from Kevin and pulled it up quickly. Turned out it was about ten more texts than he was expecting; he read them, cheeks heating slightly.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ He’s annoying as shit around his friends _

_ Doesn’t shut up half the time _

_ Either won’t shut up or won’t talk if i put a gun to his head _

_ 50/50 but 100% bitchy and dramatic _

_ Part of his charm _

_ mood y bitch _

_ He doesn’t usually become friends fast but with how fast WE became friends it doesn’t surprise me _

_ We being u and me _

_ Guess your his boyfriend now? _

_ *friend hahaha sorry typo _

Travis locked his phone with another eyeroll. He definitely wasn’t responding to those. He had a dog to take home, afterall.

"I don't know if you two have kids or are planning to, but she's good around kids as well," Clare was saying.

Travis choked. "What - Clare, no, that's - no."

"It's new," Patty interrupted smoothly. Thank God he chose _ now _to not to mumble incomprehensibly. "We haven't had the kids talk yet."

"Well, my answer hasn't changed. Good with kids."

Travis clipped Honey's collar and leash with shaking hands - both orange and black - and looked into her big puppy dog eyes.

He was irrevocably fucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the most self indulgent chapter...
> 
> No, Madison Patrick doesn't play for the Rivs, unfortunately. Maybe soon ;)
> 
> Comments are much appreciated!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS: 
> 
> Pretty graphic depiction of a panic attack, mentions of past homophobia and a career ending injury. Blood mention.

“Thank you for coming with me.”

Nolan made eye contact with him in the mirror. “Yeah, you know. It was such a hardship, meeting animals.”

Travis rolled his eyes from where he was sitting in the back with Honey, even though Nolan had already looked back to the road and couldn’t see it. “Still. It was your day off.”

“Teeks, I was literally just going to play XBox all day.”

Travis hummed. That didn’t sound nearly as good as visiting an animal shelter, even if it did sound nice. “You play Call of Duty?”

Nolan sent him another look, that translated easily to ‘duh, idiot’. It was a look he received way too often, and had received from Patty multiple times already in their admittedly new friendship.

“We’ll have to play some time.”

“Yeah, sounds chill.”

The rest of the trip was silent, Patty seeming to run out of words or the energy to say them. He didn’t speak until they pulled up to TK’s apartment building, listening to some indie radio station with songs that kind of all sounded the same to Travis, but to each their own.

“Thanks, man, for all of this,” Patty said. He waved a - huge - hand that Travis definitely wasn't thinking about touching any part of him.

“No thanks necessary,” Travis waved back.

“Still.”

“Then you’re welcome.”

Patty sent him a small, almost sweet smile. “Don’t forget anything.”

“Say bye bye to Patty, Honey,” Travis cooed to his dog, ignoring any sort of butterflies in his stomach at Nolan’s smile.

“Bye, Honey,” Patty said, reaching into the backseat to give her one last pet. “See you soon.”

“Me or the dog?” 

“Well, mostly the dog, but if you’re there I’ll cope,” Patty smirked.

“Cope, eh?”

“I guess if I’m feeling philanthropic I can admit you’re not the worst,” he sighed.

Travis snapped twice and pointed at Patty with a wide grin. “Buzzword.”

Nolan sent Travis another small smile, like he’d only used a fancy word to get that response. TK was hit with the knowledge that he had an  _ inside joke  _ with  _ Nolan Patrick _ but got out of the car before he could squeal about it, lifting Honey gently and placing her on the sidewalk. 

-

“You never told me how lunch went yesterday,” Lawson asked, not looking up from the book he was reading. He was curled up in their armchair, still in his pajamas.. “I thought you wouldn’t be able to shut up about it.”

“It was fine,” TK shrugged. Lawson had spent the night at his girl’s, so Travis hadn’t seen him until today. It was already dinnertime, which Travis was trying to force himself to get up and make.

“Travis.”

Travis groaned. “I don’t want to like - gush or talk too much or whatever.”

Law finally looked up at him. “Do we need to have this conversation again?”

“What conversation?” Travis knew exactly what conversation he meant. They had it way too often.

Law sighed heavily. “The conversation we have every time you try and stop yourself from talking because you think you’re annoying me.”

“I have no idea what you mean.”

“Travis,” Lawson said, a crooked, almost sad, tilt to his lips. “There was a good six months I thought you’d never talk like you again. I may tell you to shut up every five minutes, but you know I don’t actually want you to stop talking, yeah?”

Travis remembered those months as much as he could, which wasn’t as much as he’d like; though maybe the memory issues were a blessing in disguise. He remembered parts, though, like the speech therapist and the inability to comprehend what was happening around him.

“So, like -” Travis scratched at his temple. “I think we’re soulmates.”

The crooked tilt of Lawson’s mouth changed in a split second and he sent Travis an incredulous look. “You met him  _ Sunday.  _ You’ve known him for two days. You know love at first sight’s not a thing, right?”

“Maybe not for heterosexuals,” Travis pointed out with a raise of his brow.

Law furrowed his own brow. “So, what, gay people fall in love faster?”

“Uh, duh.”

Lawson squinted slightly. “I might regret asking this, but...how?”

Travis sighed loudly. “We all have similar life experiences. It makes it easier to make connections. Keep up, Crouse.”

“So you’ve known the guy 24 hours, and because you’re gay, you’re in love.”

“I mean.” Travis scratched at his temple again. “I’m not in love with him. But when we’re in, we’re all in.”

“Does this happen with friends, too?” Lawson had his ‘studying to be a therapist’ eyes on.

Travis nodded.

Lawson tilted his head. “That - honestly makes sense. And explain why Kevin Hayes became your sugar daddy in less time than it takes to say ‘Let’s Go Pens’.”

“Firstly,” TK scoffed. “Never say Let’s Go Pens in my presence ever again. Secondly, he’s not my sugar daddy. Thirdly, of course it makes sense. I said it.”

“Sure, Travis, sure.” Law rolled his eyes. “You were explaining why Nolan Patrick is your soulmate.”

“Right, so obviously there’s the hunting and fishing - did you know he uses a  _ spear  _ to hunt - but he’s also funnier than I expected in a really dry way and only laughed a little at my coming out story and he loves his family - bro did I tell you his sister is a Riv? And he loves animals and there were these  _ kittens  _ and this little girl and he thinks Honey is beautiful and he’s not usually this open apparently and we have a  _ meme  _ already -”

“TK,” Lawson interrupted. “TK breathe.”

“I just -” Travis threw himself face down onto his sofa, in a move more familiar than it should be. He turned his head so he could still talk to Lawson without eating a throw pillow. “He’s just so great.”

“I know,” Lawson said, reaching over to pat his head.

“I don’t know what to  _ do,”  _ Travis whined, gladly accepting head pats.

“Ask him out?” Law said it like it was obvious, but the thought was horrifying.

Travis gaped at him. “What the hell? I can’t just ask him out!”

“Is this another gay thing that I don’t get or is it a TK thing I also don’t get?”

“TK thing.” He paused. “Maybe a gay thing?”

“Hit me with it, then.”

Travis shifted and took a deep breath. “One, I don’t want him to think I’m taking advantage of him, or doing this whole thing to get to him.”

“That makes sense,” Lawson conceded. “But is also stupid as hell.”

Travis glared at him. “Pray tell.”

“This is a mutual thing. You’re helping him, too.”

Travis waved that away, continuing with his explanation as if Law hadn't spoken. “Also, he’s way out of my league.”

“Travis,” Lawson warned.

“What? You can’t tell me I’m wrong.”

“Yes, I can, and I have, and I will, until your self esteem isn’t in the gutters.” 

“I know you’re studying to be a therapist, but you really don’t need to psychoanalyze me.”

If Lawson was wearing his reading glasses - which he should be doing - he would have given Travis a look over them.

“I wasn’t ever going to, but maybe I should.”

“Oh? Hit me with it then,” Travis said, repeating Law’s earlier words.

For all Law had been studying, he’d never given his professional opinion of the shit wrong with TK’s brain. He said it wasn’t what friends did, that it wasn't something he needed to do.

They’d provided him a sports psychologist in the O, one that specialized in career ending injuries. He’d seen her for a year before he’d moved to Toronto, where he’d found another. He’d been in Philly for three years and hadn’t found one; he should probably get on that.

“Well,” Lawson started, folding his hands on his lap. Travis is still sprawled on his stomach on the sofa. “Not even touching on the trauma surrounding the injury itself and subsequent early retirement - your past trauma regarding interpersonal connections makes it difficult to form meaningful relationships with romantic partners, even with your claim that it’s easier for you to make connections because you aren’t hetersexual. 

“It’s also had a negative effect on your self esteem. You assume this difficulty is a personal fault, and that there must be something wrong and unloveable about you as a person.”

There was a beat of silence before Travis snorted. “Okay, you didn’t have to completely undress me like that, dude.”

“You asked.” Lawson opened his book but didn't break eye contact with Travis. “To summarize: there’s nothing wrong with you and no one is out of your league, not even Nolan fucking Patrick. You just need to see a damn therapist, you rat bastard.”

Travis batted his eyelids at him. “Oh, hubby, you say the sweetest things.”

“Damn right I do.” He looked back to his book, squinting slightly. Because he was too stubborn to wear his glasses. Travis rolled his eyes and made his way into the kitchen to finally scrounge up some dinner. He stood at the sink and took a second to breathe.

He was right, is the worst part. It’d taken him years to accept that he  _ had  _ trauma, let alone how it affected his daily life.

Everyone hooked up in juniors - it’s called a bro job for a reason - but then his dumb ass had gotten caught. One kiss too many, one kiss too obvious. Suddenly his sexuality was an open secret that everyone in the O knew about but no one talked about. 

Or, no one talked positively about it. There was plenty of talking - plenty of slurs and homophobic jeers, both on the ice and in the room - but that was how hockey went, right? That was normal. 

People who were okay with his sexuality just ignored it - everyone that took offense took it out on the ice, targeting him even more than they’d done before.

It made him scrappy, more prone to fighting. He got a reputation as a mouthy forward, because God forbid anyone react negatively to slurs being slung their way.

It’s the way it was, you know. It’s just a game, stop taking it so personally. You’re good, people always target the best.

Even if it was because of his talent on the ice, was that worth the abuse? Was that worth his own fucking team turning against him? They were kids, just acne ridden teenagers, they shouldn’t have been so cruel. But they were raised in an atmosphere of toxic masculinity, not kindness. Travis hoped at least some of them had grown and learned compassion.

He gripped the countertop, breath quickening.

He was back on the ice, age seventeen, Liam Davidson standing over him with a sneer on his face, the pain in his wrist and forearm worse than anything he’d ever felt yet somehow secondary to the pain of the knife forcing its way into his skull - it had to have been a knife, there was no other explanation for the sort of agony exploding behind his eyes.

A dagger - misshapen and dull, yet serrated along its edges - stabbing his temple. He closed his eyes, the white of the ice too bright. There was blood on the ice - was that his? But no - there was no ice, no blood, just the white tile floor of his kitchen. He wasn’t in Ontario, he was in Pennsylvania. He tried to ground himself with that thought.

Travis felt his knees give out, slamming against the tile.

“Travis, can you hear me?”

_ “He was unconscious for thirty seconds on the ice, couldn’t skate off by himself.” _

_ Flexor tendon complete tear, three months to full strength - may have issues with grip his whole life. _

_ Distal radius fracture, snapped, plate and screws, six to twelve months to regain motion, can’t know for sure how it'll heal. _

_ Grade three concussion, any chance of farther trauma should be avoided. Can’t be sure what lasting effects it will have. _

Travis tried to breathe. Breathing was important. That’s the first thing they teach you - breathe in.

And in -

And in -

There is no out, the end never comes -

Except it had come, two decades too early.

The knife lodged in his skull had carved its way down his body - tearing through his lungs and stealing his breath, cutting tendons so smoothly they could pass for  marionette strings, a puppeteer’s show cut drastically short -

In - in - in -

Someone’s talking to him, but he can’t hear anything over his own heartbeat, beating its way from the source across his skin -

Down, down, down, dancing to his fingertips.

Fingertips, touching nothing as nothing touched him - this wasn’t Juniors, he hadn’t just been slammed to the ice so hard he was knocked unconscious. It was just memories, just thoughts, just reminders.

Nothing? No, nothing wasn’t right.

In -

In -

No, out -

Shattered glass can be fused together unevenly and still be a single entity -

It wasn’t uneven, though, the screws and plates made sure it wasn’t, so what was his excuse?

But can what’s left - after the breath, blood, and future have been wrenched from you without your consent - can what’s left, truly be whole again?

“Travis, can I touch you?” 

Lawson, of course it was Lawson, it was always Lawson. Since before he could walk, before he could talk, it was always Lawson.

“Travis, can I grab your hands?”

Travis nodded, or attempted to. He made an affirmative noise and didn’t startle when hands slipped into his.

"Feel my hands. They’re rough. One of my fingers is a bit wonky because I broke it playing ball hockey when I was fourteen and it didn’t heal correctly. Squeeze if you can feel them.”

Travis squeezed the hands in his. He struggled to open his eyes, only seeing concerned eyes and wide shoulders before it became too much and he had to squeeze his eyes closed again.

“Law?” he managed to choke. His breath was tearing a hole in his lungs, trying to force its way out. He focused on the hands in his again. They were similar in size to Travis’s, but the fingers were thicker; a ring finger was slightly crooked.

“Yeah, it’s Lawson. Bee and Honey are here as well. We’re in our kitchen in Philadelphia. I’m going to put your hands on my chest now, okay? I want you to feel my breathing.”

His hands were guided to a firm chest and he couldn’t stop himself from clutching at the fabric of Lawson’s shirt.

“We’re going to breathe in for two and out for two. Try to match your breaths to mine.”

His breath was still stuttering, but after a few attempts he managed to match Lawson’s breath.

“Good. Now we’re going for a bit longer. In for four, out for four. Can you open your eyes again? If you can’t, that’s alright. Focus on breathing.”

He shuddered but opened his eyes, still trying to match Lawson’s breath.

“Good, you’re doing really good. Can you tell me three things you can feel?”

“The fabric of your shirt," Travis gasped. "The tile of the floor. The cupboard I’m leaning on.”

“Your breaths are getting steadier,” Lawson continued. “Can you do in for six?”

Six counts took a bit more effort, but after about ten minutes Travis had gotten his breathing under control and had most of his cognitive functioning back.

“Oh, Travis, I’m so sorry,” Lawson breathed, sitting shoulder to shoulder against the cupboards and wrapping an arm around him. “I shouldn’t have said those things.”

“It isn’t your fault. It’s no one’s fault but that asshole’s.”

“Still. I said those things -”

“Lawson,” Travis said firmly. “It’s not your fault.”

“It’s not yours, either, you know.”

“I know.”

Lawson pressed a kiss to TK’s temple and stood, gesturing to where Honey was standing in the doorway, looking worried. “Your girl wants to say something.”

“Oh, darling girl,” Travis said, letting Honey crawl into his lap and lick his face. “Daddy’s alright. Promise.”

Bee nuzzled his foot before following Lawson into the living room. TK pulled out his phone.

**Sent:**

_ Can I ask you something?  _

_ It’s pretty personal. _

“Thai or Chinese?” Lawson called from the living room.

“Chinese,” Travis called back, setting his phone next to him on the kitchen floor. He straightened his legs, trying to relax his muscles. He felt like he had just been triple shifted, muscles tense and out of breath. He put both hands around one calf, trying to massage the tension out, before properly comprehending what Law had said. “Wait, why?”

Law appeared in the doorway, holding up his phone. “I’m treating you to dinner.”

“You don’t have to -” Travis protested.

“Teeks. Yeah, it wasn’t my fault. But you still just had a panic attack.” He pads across the kitchen, grabbing a cup from the cupboard and filling it with water. He handed it to Travis, who was still on the floor massaging his calves. “Usual order?”

Travis nodded, the buzz of his phone interrupting him before he could protest further.

**Pattycakes:**

_ If you’re asking if I top… _

Travis squawked out loud; Honey looked up at him in confusion, but licked his chin when she saw he was just being an idiot.

He was just in a fragile state, alright. That was his excuse for genuinely squawking when Nolan Patrick sent him a message about sex. Not that he’d never thought about it, but he was on the kitchen floor post panic attack. He didn’t need to get a boner right now.

**Sent:**

_ NO! _

Dear Lord this boy was going to kill him.

**Pattycakes:**

_ Because that’s 2nd date convo _

**Sent:**

_ It’s not a sex thing _

**Pattycakes: **

_ Pity _

‘Pity?’ What the fuck did  _ that  _ mean?

“Lawson,” Travis called. His husband appeared in the doorway almost immediately. “So hypothetically if you were texting your bro and sex came up -”

“This is about Nolan, isn’t it?” he sighed. 

“Why would you assume it’s about Patty?”

Lawson crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow in his patented ‘Travis, you idiot’ face. It was much more impressive than Patty’s, but he’d also been working on it for two decades.

“Okay, fair.”

“I really don’t want to talk about you and Patty having sex. I’m tapping out,” he said, turning around and heading back to the living room without another word. Travis turned back to his phone.

**Sent:**

_ its about your migraines, if that’s ok _

Travis used the countertop to tug himself upright before following Law into the living room.

“Food should be here in twenty,” Lawson said. “Want to watch the game?”

“Is it a Leafs game?”

Lawson looked pointedly away.

“Dunno if I can handle that right now. Love Island?”

Lawson nodded and put on TK’s ‘terrible show that I would never watch without him no I’m not using him as an excuse to watch it’. 

They watched in silence for a while, before Lawson cleared his throat.

“Were Strome and Marner bad about it? Is that why you don’t want to watch the Leafs game?”

“Nah.” Travis shook his head. “The Team Canada guys were always good, better than guys in the O.”

“Why do you think that is?”

“I guess - well, a lot of the guys that were, you know, bad about it, had a lot to prove, or weren’t that good. Marns, Stromer, Merks, Barzy - they didn’t have anything to prove.”

Lawson hummed.

It had been nice, though. Being able to bond with a team that didn’t hate an inherent part of him. He knew most teams in the O weren’t that bad - there were various players on every team, goons with attitude problems that looked for reasons to hate anyone, but most teams were more accepting. It turns out that he had captained the worst; the only thing that stopped open bigotry on his team was the C on his chest.

He had a C on his chest in the Czech Republic, too. He remembered the rush of shameful relief that had followed his excitement over being chosen to captain Team Canada for the Ivan Hlinka, positive it would stop the homophobia in the room.

But off the ice, the C didn’t really matter. Off the ice he was just another one of the boys. It had given him a reason to fall in love with hockey again - playing with a team that had his back, that didn’t flinch when he touched them or ask him to leave the showers because it made them uncomfortable. 

“Also, I mean, everyone hooks up at international competitions,” Travis added, shaking himself out of his reverie.

“Oh?”

Travis rolled his eyes. “I’m not telling you who hooked up on Team Canada.”

Lawson snickered. “Five bucks it was Marner and Strome. Aw, and now they’re playing for the same team - how romantic.”

Travis rolled his eyes again. He wasn’t, like, wrong, but that wasn’t TK’s place to say.

Luckily the arrival of their food saved him; he made Law get the door, because he was a gentleman like that and loved Travis very much.

“They’re playing the Blues,” Travis admitted quietly once their food had been divvied up. “Davidson was just traded there.”

Lawson made a quiet noise of understanding through the dumpling in his mouth.

“So, yeah.”

“It’s not fair.” 

Travis laughed mirthlessly through his own dumpling but his phone buzzed before he could respond.

**Pattycakes:**

_ probably prefer the sex question _

“So, when your bro mentions sex multiple times -” 

Lawson turned the television up.

**Sent:**

_ Sorry i can stop if you don’t like/want to talk about it _

It had taken him years to be able to talk about his injury, and while Patty’s wasn’t career ending he did lose an entire season. It was also fresher than TK’s, and he immediately felt a rush of guilt for bringing it up.

**Pattycakes:**

_ Teeks, what were you going to say _

Travis winced. It wasn’t an easy thing to talk about, especially to hockey players who are told every day just to suck it up when it comes to things like mental health. He wasn’t quite sure how Pat would react, but he’d already brought it up.

**Sent:**

_ i was just wondering if u saw a sports psychologist _

_ bc i had one that focused on severe/career ending injuries in juniors and think seeing one here would be beneficial _

“Is it weird that I just asked Patty if he saw a therapist?”

“It shouldn’t be, but he’s also a professional athlete,” Lawson said thoughtfully.

“So is that a yes?”

“I didn’t say that and you know I didn’t. Also I’m proud of you.”

Travis furrowed his brow. “For what?”

“I’m assuming you’re asking for a reason? Not just making conversation?”

“I think - I think I need help,” Travis sighed.

“See? Proud of you.”

“Yeah, yeah, just eat your noodles.”

It had been a long day and his body clock was still set for ‘teacher schedule’ which wasn't meant to include late nights - though it did, because teaching was 24/7 and he stayed up until two at least once a week - so it was only nine o’clock when Travis noticed himself yawning.

“Go to bed, I’ll clean up.”

Travis hefted himself up and headed towards the bathroom to wash the grime of panic attack and sweet and sour sauce off his hands and get ready for bed. He was spitting out his toothpaste when his phone buzzed again.

**Pattycakes:**

_ Yeah i did. It really helped. _

TK wiped his mouth and shuffled to his bedroom before responding.

**Sent:**

_ did they work for the flyers? _

He pulled on an old shirt that was so full of holes and so threadbare it was hardly fabric at all and tugged off his jeans. It had been a long day, he deserved an early night.

**Pattycakes:**

_ No actually _

_ Recommended by the team but not thru the team. did you want her number? _

**Sent:**

_ Yeah  _

_ Obvs i probs won’t be able to afford the one u used, but they may have resourches _

_ *resources _

**Pattycakes:**

_ She was really good _

_ i’ll get you the number of her office tomorrow, i don’t have it  _

**Sent:**

_ Thanks dude _

_ appreciate it _

**Pattycakes:**

_ also i prefer to bottom  _

_ Just like _

_ So you know _

Travis promptly tripped getting into bed, smacking into the bedside table.

Lawson ran in, probably to make sure the noise wasn’t Travis having another panic attack instead of what actually happened, instead of TK tripping over his own goddamn feet. “Uh -”

Lawson rolled his eyes before turning without another word. TK dragged himself into bed, shoving Honey over where she’d fallen asleep in the middle of the bed. She hadn’t even noticed the commotion - terrible guard dog. He probably shouldn’t let her sleep in the bed, but she’d been through enough that she deserved it. Besides, Bee was on his pillow, and he very well couldn’t kick Honey out and not kick Bee out, or vice versa. They were both staying.

Travis bit his lip, trying to decide how to respond to Patty’s message. It wasn’t anything strange for queer friends to joke about, nothing strange for  _ him _ to joke about, but it was a bit of a different situation, wasn’t it? 

He settled on his usual answer, just a simple ‘ _ I’ll keep that in mind’  _ and started to fix the things on his bedside table he’d disrupted when he fell over. He hadn’t broken anything, thank God. He’d never forgive himself if he broke a lamp just because he found out Nolan Patrick was a bottom. Which, he’d obviously never thought about. Obviously.

It  _ was  _ a bit of a surprise, though he should have known better than to assume size meant anything. Travis was more surprised that Pat had told him at all, actually. It didn’t seem very in character, but he was learning to not have any expectations when it came to Nolan Patrick.

Patty.

Because he  _ wasn’t  _ ‘Nolan Patrick’ anymore. He was Patty, even after just a handful of days. He was a big moody bastard that played with kittens and blushed all the way down his neck and loved his family something fierce.

Who hadn’t responded for a good fifteen minutes after Travis had sent a rather suggestive message, but that’s cool. It was totally cool. He was so cool, cool as a cucumber. Cooler than the flipside of his pillow. Cooler than Manitoba in January. He definitely didn’t rush to check his messages the next time it buzzed, nor did he breathe a sigh of relief when he saw that it was Pat.

**Pattycakes:**

_ Gtg, hayzy is being weird _

_ cod soon? _

It wasn't the  _ worst _ response Travis had ever gotten, and he  _ did  _ ask to play CoD, even if he did hurriedly say goodbye Travis sent back a thumbs up and curled up under his blankets. Bee burred and moved from his pillow to his chest, a calming weight. He reached to put his phone on the charger but before he could it buzzed again.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ wtf did you say to pat he hasn’t stopped blushing in like 20 mins _

**Sent:**

_ hayes that’s just his face _

_ Also how did you know i was talking to him _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ lucky guess, thank u for confirming _

_ I know his blushes tho _

_ this isnt his usual _

**Sent:**

_ ask him _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ um no thanks  _

_ Don’t want to die today _

Travis just sent back a shrug emoji. Jesus Christ.

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ he looked like he was bracing himself for a hit and now he won’t stop blushing _

_ what did u SAY to him _

Now  _ that  _ was something to think about. Looking back at their conversation, there were a handful of messages that might have made Patty blush; everything made Patty blush, to be fair. 

**Sent:**

_ not telling _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ bf secrets? _

_ ;) _

Lawson would help him hide a body, right? When he murdered Kevin Hayes, Lawson would  _ have  _ to help. It was the only bro code that mattered.

**Sent:**

_ I’m deleting your number. _

_ Goodnight. _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ dude it’s only 10 _

**Sent:**

_ teacher sleeping schedule _

**Knight In Orange Armor:**

_ Ahhh that makes sense _

_ night night don’t let the bedbugs bite _

Travis finally put his phone on charge and turned the light off, making himself comfortable underneath the weight of Bee. There was...a lot to unpack.

His phone buzzed from the nightstand just seconds after he placed it there. He grabbed it, squinting at the brightness of his screen, and saw that it was a text from Patty.

**Pattycakes:**

_ Sorry hayzy said ur asleep and you prob won’t read this until tomorrow but _

_ I know we’ve only known each other for a few days, but would you be uncomfortable if I foot the bill? _

_ For the therapist _

Travis closed his eyes and breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth.

Was that what it was like, being a professional athlete? Just - tossing money around.

**Sent:**

_ wtf no i can’t ask you to do that _

Travis wasn't sure if he should be offended or grateful. One thing he  _ wasn't  _ going to do was accept it. He wasn't a charity case, he didn't want pity because he was a poor kindergarten teacher. 

**Pattycakes:**

_ Did i wake you? _

Like that was the part of the conversation that Patty was worried about. Not the, you know, money thing.

**Sent:**

_ Nahh, i only just turned the light off _

**Pattycakes:**

_ Okay cool _

_ And you didn’t ask, i offered. _

_ besides, you’re meeting two of my sibs and i only have to meet one of yours _

Patty seemed to think hundreds of dollars was equal to meeting Madison Patrick, like Travis wouldn’t  _ pay  _ to meet her. Christ, he should be paying Patty to meet  _ Chase _ , because he was a  _ nightmare _ . Travis missed him something awful.

**Sent:**

_ That’s not a fair trade _

_ You already met law so that kinda counts _

**Pattycakes:**

_ Travis. _

TK could picture exactly what Nolan looked and sounded like when he said ‘Travis’ like that, voice deep and firm. It reminded TK that he was very,  _ very  _ gay.

Except now every inner gayboy monologue was paired with the knowledge of Patty’s bedroom preferences. Travis threw an arm over his eyes and tried not to groan out loud; Honey snuffled in her sleep, jolting him out of his most recent inner gayboy monologue.

**Sent:**

_ Nolan. _

**Pattycakes:**

_ let me do this for you _

**Sent:**

_ You’ve only known me five minutes _

**Pattycakes:**

_ i like to think i’m a good judge of character _

_ and kevin’s pretty much imprinted on you _

_ Travis. Let me. _

**Sent:**

_ ugh fine _

**Pattycakes:**

_ i'm sure you can find a way to pay me back _

For the thousandth time tonight nearly Travis choked on his tongue. There were  _ plenty  _ of ways he would be willing to pay Patty back, and they were all favors he shouldn’t be thinking of alone in bed with his cat on his chest.

**Pattycakes:**

_ Goodnight. _

**Sent:**

_ Night _


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3k of absolute fluff because the last chapter was a bit deep

“Dude, how are you so bad at this?”

Even through the fuzzy connection and pixelated Twitch screen Patty looked and sounded amused, like TK’s inability to play Call of Duty was a personal fault to be  _ mocked. _

“Shut up, one of my hands doesn’t work.” Which, okay, it wasn’t a lie. One of his hands  _ doesn’t  _ work as well as the other, but he’d never had trouble holding a controller. Patty didn’t have to know that.

“TK, I don’t think you can use that as an excuse. You’re  _ so bad. _ ”

“You’re being ablelist,” Travis whined.

“Teeks, I’m pretty sure telling you that you’re bad at a video game doesn’t count as ableism.”

Travis scoffed. “Whatever, I have other qualities.”

“Everyone has _qualities_,” Patty answered, most likely raising a brow; anyway, the small, pixelated Patty in the corner of his screen looked very judgy. “Do you have any  _ good _ qualities?”

“You’re really putting me on the spot, bud.” Travis paused. “I’m really good at animal noises. Like, unreasonably good.”

“Animal noises, eh? Is that your only good quality?”

“I can read,” Travis added. 

“Oh, same,” Patty nodded, promptly shooting Travis in the head.

“Matching good qualities!” TK crowed, ignoring the fact that he’d just died. Again.

“Does being able to read count as a good quality?”

“Eh, it’s not a  _ bad  _ quality,” Travis shrugged. “I’ll get back to you. First you can kick my ass a little more.”

“How sweet of you to let me kick your ass,” Patty cooed in response.

“What can I say, I’m just a good guy.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

They played in silence for a while - or, their version of silence, which was apparently yelling at each other for hours. This was the first time they'd played together, but TK found it strangely calming. Lawson was out for the night, which meant Travis could stay up until two AM playing first person shooter games with Patty and not have to be quiet about it.

“You and Law wanna come to the game this Saturday night? Or, I guess it’s past midnight, so technically tomorrow. I can - take  _ that _ , dickhead - get you some tickets.”

“If there’s one thing I’ll - mother _ fucker  _ \- never turn down it’s hockey tickets.”

“Two, then?”

Travis thought for a second. “Could I be cheeky and ask for three? I think Lawson’s girlfriend may want to come. She’s on the cusp of becoming a hockey fan and I want to get her to be a Flyers fan.”

“Three’s cool, though they may not be glass seats then.”

“Pat, before last week I’d never had glass seats in my life. They could be nosebleed seats and I”d still be happy.”

“Like I would put you in nosebleed seats,” Patty scoffed, like it was unimaginable. 

“Well, thank you, then.”

“You still need to meet the boys,” Patty pointed out. “Hayesy’s been talking you up for a week, God knows why, and most of the guys think you’re a cryptid that he made up. If Sanny and Laughts hadn’t met you and G hadn’t seen that picture of you I’m pretty sure everyone would think you were a mythical creature.”

Travis gasped. “Oh, like Mothman! I always wanted to be Mothman.”

“I...guess?” Patty said hesitantly. “Wait, really?”

“Like, obviously I wanted to be a hockey player,” TK said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “But if that didn’t work out I wanted to be Mothman. That or the pink Power Ranger.”

Patty was silent for a disconcerting amount of time before he sighed deeply. “Your poor parents…”

“Hey,” Travis objected. “They’re the reason I’m like this!”

“Nature vs nurture.”

“Whatever.”

“Travis.” He sounded almost pitying. “You can’t just say you wanted to be Mothman and not expect me to make fun of you.”

“Whatever!” Travis repeated, this time louder. “What did  _ you _ want to be when you grew up?”

Patty hesitated. “I wanted to be a teacher, actually.”

“I’m a teacher!” Travis responded with a wide grin. 

“Yes, I know,” Patty said slowly, like he was explaining it to a child. 

“Oh, fuck off,” Travis said with a roll of his eyes.

“I didn’t consider anything else besides hockey,” the other man shrugged. “Maybe I should have tried to be a Power Ranger.”

“The pink one specifically,” Travis qualified.

“Sorry, the pink Power Ranger.” And then TK immediately got shot in the head. Again.

“Fucking fuck you fucking fucker you absolute walking bag of bullshit,” Travis yelled. 

“Your way with words is unparalleled,” Nolan deadpanned.

“Yeah, yeah, shut up, ya bag of milk.” Travis sighed and set his controller on his lap. “Okay, I’ve been killed enough.”

“Oh, alright.” Nolan sounded disappointed. “Goodnight then?”

It was only midnight, though. "Let me get ready for bed, do you mind if we Skype for a minute? I still have things to ask you.”

Nolan looked taken aback. “Sure, give me five.”

Travis was already in his pajamas, but hurried to brush his teeth and wash his face, crawling into bed without slamming into the bedside table. Unfortunately, both Honey and Bee were conked out on Lawson's bed; he could have done with the comfort. He was oddly nervous to video chat with Patty, even after being on Twitch together for two hours. 

“Okay, I’ve looked up the like, best questions to get to know each other,” Travis said after answering Patty’s call. He ignored how comfy and soft Patty looked nestled against his pillows - in his absolutely  _ massive  _ bed - and switched apps to pull up the list.

“Oh, jeez,” Patty mumbled with a sigh, face extra small in the corner.

“I  _ am  _ a kindergarten teacher,” TK laughed, tapping back to the chat. “If you want we could sit criss-cross applesauce and do it?”

“I am never going to sit criss-cross applesauce and talk about myself ever again.”

Travis hummed. “Your legs are too long, don’t think you could manage it.”

“Yours aren’t. You must be pretty good at it.”

Travis rolled his eyes. “Okay, okay, I’m short. Whatever. So. Question one - who’s your hero? Family and friends not included.”

“Jonathan Toews,” Nolan answered promptly.

“Good choice. Great player, shitty team.”

"I trained with him one summer, it was pretty cool,” Nolan said.

"'Pretty cool', the man says, like training with Jonathon Toews isn’t fucking awesome.”

Patty rolled his eyes. “Whatever. But play wise, my favorite active NHL’er as a teenager was probably Jamie Benn, actually.”

_“Really?’ _Travis gaped. “Can’t say I expected that.”

“What, you don’t know everything about me? What kinda fan…thought I was your favorite Flyer.”

“One, Carter Hart is my favorite Flyer. Two, I guess I gotta learn you, eh? Tell me about your crush on Big Benn.”

“Benn’s a big, strong forward and he can score. I always wanted to be a player like that,” Patty shrugged. “And my uncle was a coach for the Stars when I was younger, so I always liked them.”

“Not the Jets?”

“I mean.” Patty shrugged again. “That’s kind of a given, growing up in Winnipeg. But after that.”

“Also Benn’s kinda hot,” TK smirked.

Nolan rolled his eyes again.  “You?”

Travis scratched at his admittedly gross facial hair. “Well, you already know my favorite team. And I really never had a hero that wasn’t a family member? I’ve only really looked up to, like, my nan.”

“Valid. She sounds like she was pretty cool, so that makes sense.”

“The coolest,” Travis smiled.

“Go on, ask me another.”

“One of them is ‘are you related or distantly related to anyone famous’ but I don’t think you can say you’re related to yourself. So beside yourself.”

“My dad, I guess. My uncle. And my sister.”

Travis grinned widely. “I can’t wait to meet your sister.”

“You weren’t this excited to meet  _ me,”  _ Patty pouted.

“Nol, the first time we met you literally tripped into my arms. The shine of you being Nolan Patrick wore off real quick.”

The scrunched up face he got in return was another thing to add to his ‘Reasons Patty Is My Soulmate’ list. He only just managed to stop himself from screenshotting it.

“Bo Horvat’s my cousin.”

_ “Really?”  _ Patty seemed way too surprised at that. He should have known how hockey families went, he was part of one. He’d just named his father, uncle, and sister as famous people he was related to because of hockey.

“Yeah, he’s pretty chill,” TK shrugged.

“Huh.”

Travis snickered. “He’ll probably deny anything to do with me but that’s only because I text him memes every time they lose and he says it doesn’t help but I think he’s lying. He loves me, really.”

Patty winced. “Are you gonna start sending me memes when we lose?”

“You know, maybe I will.”

“They better be funny.”

“Would I ever send unfunny memes?”

“Teeks,  _ you’re  _ an unfunny meme.”

“Whatever. What’s your biggest fear?”

“Damn, right into that,” Patty whistled. “Like, spiders fear or deeper?”

“Both.”

“Uh, I don’t like heights,” he started. “Deeper - I’m afraid that I’ll wake up and my migraines will be back.”

“I’ll fight them if they do, okay?”

Patty rolled his eyes. “Thanks, I’m sure they’ll listen to you.”

Travis flexed dramatically and watched in fascination as a blush crept its way across Nolan’s cheeks. Huh. “I’m scrappy, I think I could do it.”

Nolan cleared his throat. “I don’t doubt that you’d try, bud.”

“I have a huge fear of being buried alive,” TK stated, shuffling until he was stretched on his stomach so he could rest his phone on the duvet. He felt like a girl at a sleepover calling her crush. Which wasn’t a completely ill fitting comparison, albeit a tad misogynistic.

“Pretty sure if you’re a Power Ranger you’d be able to stop that from happening.”

“But I’m  _ not  _ a Power Ranger, that’s the whole issue.”

“So because you’re not a Power Ranger you’re automatically going to be buried alive?”

“Don’t threaten me.”

“That wasn’t a threat but maybe it should have been.”

Travis didn’t deem that worthy of response and found another question.

“Okay, how about this. Who would you want to play you in a movie of your life?”

“What, no favorite color? Favorite movie or TV show? Favorite genre of music?”

“You know, that’s a good point but you were the one who said embarrassing stories were the best way to get to know each other.”

Nolan continued on like Travis didn’t talk at all. “My favorite color is yellow, my favorite movie is  _ Lone Survivor,  _ and I like almost anything that isn’t country.”

“What do you have against country music?!”

“It’s  _ bad,  _ Teeks,” Nolan said with a twitch of his lips. “That’s all I have against it.

“Whatever. It’s my favorite genre.”

“You’re a caricature,” Patty sighed.

“Yeah, yeah. My favorite color is red and I’m super into crime documentaries. I’m not great at watching TV shows. Oh! My favorite hockey movie is  _ MVP _ .”

“Huh.”

“What?” Travis asked, squinting one eye at him.

“Think you’re the only player I’ve heard say  _ MVP _ was their favorite hockey movie.” 

Fair. “I’m an enigma. Now. Who do you want to play you in a movie?”

Nolan worried at his top lip with his teeth. “Do they have to be alive?”

“Nah, go wild.”

“Katharine Hepburn,” he answered promptly. Travis blinked at how quickly he answered the question.

“You had that answer real quick, eh? That’s - not what I was expecting, but honestly I can see it. Should I say Cary Grant, then?”

Nolan scoffed. “You wish.”

“Jimmy Stewart.”

Patty tilted his head. “I hate that I can kinda see it.”

Travis did his best old Hollywood smoulder, wiggling his eyebrows.

“You look like you’re having a seizure, please stop.”

“I’m hilarious, admit it.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Come on, admit it.”

“No.”

“Pat Pat Pat! Admit it! Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat -” He could do this all night.

“God, shut  _ up, _ ” Nolan said, trying to stifle a laugh.

Travis grinned back. He’d make a fool out of himself every day of the week to hear that laugh, even stifled.

“You’re not funny.”

“Whatever, I know the truth. Speak any other language? Do you collect anything?”

“No, and no.”

Travis hummed. “I can speak toddler, which is impressive, but only English fluently. Could probably remember some of the French I learned in school if pressed. I, uh, used to collect all my plane tickets from tournaments and things when I was still playing. I still have all of them back home. But in Philly, it’s knockoff jerseys that I get for twenty bucks off the internet all the way. And mugs.”

“That’s cool. The ticket thing.”

He had piles of tickets; he was hoping he’d retire with more, but that didn’t work out. C’est la vie.

“What, the knockoff jerseys and mugs aren’t cool?” Travis laughed.

“Pretty sure I’m contractually obligated to say that buying knockoff jerseys is bad,” Nolan answered. “But off the record, what’s the point in paying $150 for a bit of fabric?”

“Exactly!”

“How many do you have, then?”

“I have a drawer full of them,” Travis admitted. “I have at least one for every player on the Flyers roster at any given time.”

“Oh, Jesus.”

“Right? That’s a fucking lot. Not paying all that money just for something I shove in a drawer.”

Patty thought for a moment. “I’ll get you a proper one and have the boys sign it for you. Whose do you want?”

“I don’t have a Gritty one,” Travis said with a grin.

Patty shuddered at the mention of Gritty. “Fine. I’ll get you a Gritty jersey and have all the boys sign it.”

“Thanks, babe.” The endearment slipped out; it was nothing he didn’t call Law on a daily basis, but watching the blush spread across Patty’s cheeks gave him pause.

“The least I can do for how many times I shot you in the head,” Patty said after a moment.

Travis was going to object but Bee had decided it was time for cuddles after all and had burst into the room with the force of a cat that had a goal in mind. The door crashed open, slamming against the wall. Travis winced but Bee didn’t care and just crawled onto his back, peering over his shoulder to see where the voice that obviously wasn’t his was coming from.

“Who’s this, then?” Nolan asked with a small grin.

“This is Bee.”

“Bean Bag, you mean,” Patty smirked, because he was a dickhead.

“Bean Bag, this is Patty. Patty, Bean Bag.”

“Very nice to meet you, Bean Bag,” Patty said seriously. “Sorry you have such a terrible dad.”

Travis turned up his nose and sniffed. “She’s lucky to have me.”

“How did their meeting go?”

“What, Bee and Honey?”

Patty nodded.

“Really well, actually. Better than I was expecting. They’re BFFs now.”

Bee realized she wasn’t getting the cuddles she wanted and jumped off his back, heading out the door she’d slammed open.

“Bye, Bee,” Nolan waved, even though he couldn't see he her. There was a good chance of Travis suffocating himself with a pillow right now. He coughed instead of doing that.

“How old were you when you learned Santa wasn't real?”

There was another too long, disconcerting pause from Patty, until he whispered, “Santa isn’t real?”

Travis paused. “Wait, what? Pat - Patty, did I just ruin Christmas for you?”

“What if I still believed in Santa and you just told me apropos of nothing that he wasn’t real?”

“First of all, buzzword. Second, I’d apologize to you and spew some bullshit about how there’s still magic in Christmas but that it comes from family and friends? Please don’t say you still believe in Santa.”

“Of course I fucking don’t, dickhead,” Patty said with another long suffering sigh. “And I was like - eight? I don’t remember why, probably overheard my parents talking.”

“I was seven and my brother told me because I’d just beaten him in Monopoly. Also fuck you, I was genuinely worried I ruined Christmas for you.”

“Don’t worry, TK, you didn’t ruin Christmas for me,” Nolan smirked again.

Travis groaned. “This Christmas may be ruined for you, what with meeting my family and all.”

“It’ll be fine, don’t worry about it,” Patty waved dismissively.

“They’ll want to meet you as soon as they get here, you know. Like, before they even really say hello to me.”

And they would. They’d settle in at their B&B and come over immediately, assuming - hoping - that TK’s boyfriend would be at his apartment.

“I’ll treat them to dinner,” Patty was saying decisively. “Throw my name around and get a reservation at a nice place. Impress them, eh? Cloth napkins, wine list longer than your arm, no prices on the menus, the whole thing.”

“One may say, the whole shebang.” TK’s grin was shit-eating and he watched as Nolan pinched the bridge of his nose, very obviously fighting the urge to end the call.

“Never say that word in my presence again.”

“I’m not in your presence, I’m in my apartment,” Travis pointed out with another shit-eating grin.

Patty’s glare was ruined by the twitching of his lips. His ‘trying not to smile’ face was one of TK’s favorites.

“They’ll be here on the 22nd, and leave the 4th of January.”

“My family is here for the 28th and leave the 6th.”

“Oh, God.”

“Fuck. There’s overlap.”

“They’ll want to meet each other.”

Their shared look of horror sent Travis into hysterics, nearly knocking over his phone because he was laughing. Nolan wasn’t trying to stifle his laughter this time, and Travis was once again struck by the fact that  _ he  _ did that.  _ He  _ pulled a laugh out of the apparently ‘stoic and standoffish’ Patty.

He could totally do this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also fun fact everything except favourite colour and who they'd have play them in a movie has been said by them!


	7. Chapter 7

“So, what you’re saying is TK has two sugar daddies  _ and  _ a fake boyfriend?”

“Claire, I swear to god -”

He’s going to take back every nice thing he’d ever said about Lawson’s girlfriend. She had somehow ended up one of his best friends - she was here because it was their weekly game night, because they’re old now and have game nights - even if she and Lawson had only been dating a handful of months, but he decided then that he couldn’t stand her. She was smirking on their sofa, looking much too pleased with herself.

“Fine, fine,” Claire laughed. “No sugar daddies. Still, TK, that’s ridiculous. That’s not something that happens.”

Travis whined. He knew this, okay, he  _ knew  _ this. It sounded absolutely ridiculous any time it was brought up. They didn’t have to keep saying it, though.

She raised a perfectly sculpted brow. “You have to know ‘my fake professional athlete boyfriend’ sounds like a romance novel.”

Lawson snorted. “I mean, you would let Pat take you in a manly fashion any day of the week.”

“I’m taking you off the lease,” Travis growled. “Pack your bags, you’re moving out tonight.”

Lawson just snorted again. “What, you’re going to try and tell me you don’t want him to ravish you?”

“I don’t even know you, why are you in my apartment?” Travis continued, fully ready to physically kick him out of their apartment.

“What about him breaking you in two with his throbbing member?”

Travis tried to remember all the good times he and Lawson had to stop him from committing murder, but he was coming up with nothing right now. Claire would make a lovely widow.

“Don’t want his glistening orbs to bore a hole into you as he sheaths his sex missile in your love canal?” Claire managed to say with a straight face. Scratch the widow bit, they were both being murdered. Even if her addition was impressive. 

“I was going to offer y’all tickets to the game tomorrow, but now I’m just gonna go by myself.”

“Your sugar daddy treating us?” It was Law’s time to smirk at him. The brow he raised was less perfectly groomed, but just as rude.

“He’s not my sugar daddy!” Travis protested for the hundredth time.

“Okay, okay,” Lawson said, faux placatingly. “Your best friend forever, Kevin Hayes treating us?”

“I hate you. And no.”

“Ah, so your other sugar daddy?” 

“I don’t have a fucking sugar daddy!” TK yelled. “I definitely don’t have two!”

“Travis, don’t let anyone try and convince you that it’s wrong to have two daddies, okay?” Claire said, like she hadn’t just said that she believed he didn’t have a sugar daddy.

“I don’t have a sugar daddy, let alone two!”

“God knows why,” Lawson drawled with a roll of his eyes. “You’re  _ prime _ sugar baby material.”

TK pointed at him. “I know you’re joking but I’d be a great sugar baby.” He used the hand he had pointed at Lawson with to count on his fingers. “I’m poor, perfectly okay accepting free shit -” or he was trying to be, anyway, what with accepting Pat’s assistance which  _ did not make him his sugar daddy  _ “- and obviously not every sugar daddy wants sex but my gag reflex is nonexistent -”

“I really do  _ not  _ need to know anything about your gag reflex,” Lawson interrupted, looking disgusted.

“What gag reflex?” Travis said with a wide grin. 

“Stop!” Lawson covered his ears.

“Deep throating is a good skill to have,” Travis added, talking loud enough to be heard over the continuous chanting of ‘Stop’. “Most of the guys I’ve had sex with agree.”

“Stop stop stop!” Lawson practically shrieked. It was his fault, he was the one who  _ had _ to chirp Travis.

“How many guys didn’t?” Claire asked, brow furrowed, ignoring Lawson. “Was it like - a kink thing?”

“No, I don’t want to know please shut up if you tell her we’re getting a divorce,” Lawson yelled.

Travis shrugged with a laugh. “Just one, and it was only because he didn’t have a dick to deepthroat. But okay, okay, I’ll stop. Anyway. Game.”

“Is that even a question?” Lawson sighed, relieved that Travis wasn’t talking about his gag reflex anymore.

“Very true. Patty said -” 

“Oh, did Patty say?” Lawson simpered with a flutter of his lashes.

“- Patty said he’d get three tickets if Claire wanted to come,” Travis continued, ignoring him as usual. “But now I don’t want either of you to even be at the Farg at the same time as me or Patty.”

“Is Patrick as hot in person as he is on TV?”

“Claire!” Lawson said, looking aghast,

“What? I have eyes.”

“That’s TK’s boyfriend you’re ogling.”

“Hotter, actually,” TK said mournfully, again ignoring Lawson. “So much hotter.”

Claire crossed her arms. “Why aren’t you dating him for real, then?”

“This is the part where he says Nolan is out of his league.”

Claire scoffed. “He is not out of your league. You are perfectly in each other’s league. If you were two sports teams you’d be playing each other.”

“Crouse, if you say anything along the lines of ‘playing with each other’ I will actually kill you,” Travis said. Lawson closed his mouth without a word.

“Do I get to meet him?” Claire asked with a grin.

Travis groaned. “I guess.”

Claire’s grin widened. 

“But please be on your best behaviour tomorrow.”

“Who are they playing?” Claire asked, before pausing. “I don’t know why I asked, I don’t know hockey, but that’s what folks usually ask, right?”

“New York Islanders,” Lawson answered her, looking gross and in love.

The soft  _ fuck  _ slipped out before Travis could stop it.

“You all good, bud?” Law asked.

“Yeah, just -” Travis waved a hand. “There’s a couple of Isles I don’t want to accidentally run into.”

Lawson made an ‘o’ with his mouth. “Shit, right. Would seeing them play upset you?”

Claire looked confused.

“Before I got injured when I was seventeen I played with a couple of their players for tournaments a few times,” Travis explained.

She nodded, not asking for any more details. Lawson must have told her about his injury at the very least, which was good.

“But seeing them play won’t upset me. Don’t think seeing them in person would upset me. It’s just awkward,” TK shrugged. “Because they’ll just about remember who I am, but not know anything else about me. Like running into your old childhood friend at the gas station.”

“I get that.”

“Luckily we won’t be going to the away team’s locker room, so chances are slim.”

_/\\_

**Sent:**

_ Question _

**Pattycakes:**

_ Answer, maybe _

**Sent:**

_ Can I call you? _

Instead of answering Patty called him first.

“Do your parents know about me?” Travis asked in lieu of a hello. “Like, by name, et cetera.”

“Yeah. My mom threatened to call Hayesy if I didn’t tell them about you. Why?”

“I haven’t told mine yet,” Travis admitted. “I don’t think they’ll believe me.”

“Well, tell them and if they don’t believe you they will when we meet.”

Which made sense. Travis was way too stressed to make sense of anything at the moment. “Okay, cool. Thanks. Good luck tomorrow.”

“Did you just call me for that?”

“Yeah,” Travis sighed. “I was too nervous to wait for a response.”

“Makes sense.” Nolan paused. “Are we seeing you after the game?”

“If you want, yeah.”

“I’ll have someone come get you,” Patty confirmed. “I managed glass seats, by the way.”

“Maybe we’ll come to warmups.”

“Bring a sign or you aren’t meeting Carter.”

Travis laughed. “You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Patrick. I don’t have anything to trade for a puck besides Lawson, though.

“Not my problem.” Travis could picture the way he was probably lazily shrugging his shoulders.

“I’ll think of something.”

“Looking forward to it.”

“See ya tomorrow, bud. Get some rest.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“Fuck off.”

_/\\_

He woke up the next morning feeling like he hardly slept at all, his anxiety about the phone call with his parents keeping him awake. He fed the animals and made himself toast and a cup of coffee, shuffling sleepily around the kitchen.

This was going to go  _ fantastically. _

He made himself comfortable on the sofa, lying on his back with Bee purring on his chest like she always did when she could tell he was anxious. Anyone who has ever said that cats lack empathy have obviously never seen Bee bring Travis down from the brink of an anxiety attack.

As his phone began to ring he was especially glad she was here; he needed her now more than ever.

“Hiya.”

“Hey, sweetie,” his mother said.

“Hey, mom. Is dad there?” 

There was the crackling of a phone being put on speaker. Why they didn’t do that before the call, Travis would never understand. “Hi, son.”

“Hey, dad.”

“We’re excited to come visit,” his father said. “It’s been too long.”

Travis scratches at Bee’s head. “I’m excited to see you. I’ve missed you guys.”

Which he was and had. It just wasn’t the best circumstances, which he knew was his fault completely.

“We’ve missed you, too,” his mom said.

“I can’t talk for long, I’m going for lunch with Lawson.” He definitely wasn’t going for lunch with Lawson, but he had a sign to make and a conversation to get out of.

“Any fun plans for tonight?”

“Lawson and I are going to the Flyers game tonight.”

“Oh! That’s exciting!” his mom exclaimed. 

“Actually, about the Flyers…” He winced. Now or never.

“Excuse my language, but you’re fucking with us, right?” his mom said after Travis had explained.

“Not...exactly,” Travis winced again. “Sorry, have to go, love you, see you next week, bye.”

He wasn’t proud of hanging up on his parents, but it was better than the alternative.

_/\\_

“Why are you bringing a box of crayons to the game?”

“You wanted to go to warmups.”

“That doesn’t explain the crayons,” Lawson responded, raising a brow.

Travis huffed. “I needed something to tape the stickers to.”

“That explains nothing.”

Travis held up his sign. 

“‘Will trade good job stickers for puck’,” Lawson read aloud. “Oh my god.”

“I was told I had to bring a sign, so.” Travis shrugged. “I don’t have much else to trade.”

“Blow jobs?” Claire called from the kitchen.

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Is this what you were doing this afternoon?”

It was a pretty sign, very obviously made by a kindergarten teacher, covered in glitter and cartoon animals.

“Let’s go before we’re late.”

_/\\_

“I don’t know anything about hockey but even I know these seats had to be expensive.”

“Yeah.”

“So, like. You’re positive he isn’t your sugar daddy.”

“Claire,” Travis hissed, eyes darting around. The Flyers were already almost done warming up when they’d arrived, Philly traffic being as terrible as usual on a Saturday night, especially one with a Flyers game on.

“Okay, okay.”

“Put up your sign, man,” Lawson said. Travis groaned but did.

“Is that guy, like, humping the ice?” Claire asked, pointing to where Claude Giroux was stretching on the ice.

“That’s...how they warm up.”

“By humping the ice?”

“He’s  _ stretching.” _

“Incoming,” Lawson said. “Get those crayons ready.”

Something slammed into the boards in front of them; it was Kevin, of course it was, laughing loudly at their shocked expressions. He called for Nolan, who skated over, looking like he was bracing himself.

TK sent him a shit eating grin and tapped the glass next to the sign, shaking the box of crayons. Patty rolled his eyes in the way he did that looked almost painful and tossed a puck over the glass. Travis laughed and tossed him the stickers/crayons, which he caught easily with another eyeroll. Kevin pouted, expertly flipping a puck on to the blade of his stick and waving it around.

Travis reached behind him to grab another box of crayons out of his coat pocket. Kevin yelled with a grin, flipping the puck over the boards, blowing him a dramatic kiss after catching his own box.

Kevin was eventually pulled away by an annoyed - and handsome - looking Claude Giroux, who smiled at them to show he wasn’t  _ really _ annoyed before skating off. 

Nolan lingered for another minute, touching a fist to the glass. Travis brought his own fist to meet his before shooing him away. Patty smiled widely for a moment before skating backwards away, a devastating flash of a thing.

“Okay, yeah,” Claire said. “Much hotter in person.”

TK snorted. “Told you.”

“Do you think we could get him to do the stretchy thing?”

Travis ignored her in favour of turning to a kid - about seven or eight - who was standing behind them.

“You want this?” he asked, holding up one of the pucks. “Don’t need two, eh?”

The kid kinda gaped at him for a second. “Are you friends with Nolan Patrick and Kevin Hayes?”

“Yeah,” Travis smiled.

_ “That’s so cool.” _

“They’re pretty cool guys.”

The kid took the puck from him. “Thank you, Mister.”

“Of course.” He noticed another kid with the family. “Is this your brother?”

The kid nodded. His brother was obviously jealous, because wouldn’t any kid be? Travis smiled at him before handing over the other puck. He could get another.

“Thank you,” their mother said, watching them both stare wide eyed at their respective pucks. “You’ve made their year.”

“No problem,” he responded with a grin before turning back around. The players were just leaving the ice after warm ups; he felt the thrum of anticipation that came with watching your favourite team play.

The game was chippy, like all games against division rivals tended to be. Nolan was skating like a beast, slamming Isles into boards and scoring twice in the second, including the game winner. Another four point game, final score 5-3, Flyers.

Patty’s hockey had always been beautiful to Travis, but there was always something about watching it live - watching it this close up - that struck him near breathless. He was so fucked.

After the final whistle blew, Lawson turned to Claire. “So, what’d you think?”

“Fine, I’ll be a Flyers fan.”

Travis yelled, high fiving her. Lawson groaned, probably wanting to make her a Leafs fan, but there was no rule saying she couldn’t be both.

“Are they making a line to hug their goalie?”

Travis turned back to the ice where the Flyers were in the middle of their love thy goalie train.

“Oh yeah,” Lawson said. “After every game the teams go up to their goalie and give them a hug or a pat on the helmet.”

“I love this sport,” Claire grinned widely.

Travis yelled again, probably too loudly for how close they were standing. “I’m so proud of you.”

“So how does this work?” Claire asked. “The whole meeting the players thing.”

“We loiter in our seats until someone comes to get us,” Travis shrugged, sitting back in his chair. 

It was a longer wait than last time - Travis assumed there were congratulations to give - but after about twenty minutes he was tapped on the shoulder.

“Mr. Konecny?”

“That’d be me.”

“If you’d follow me, Mr. Patrick has requested your presence,” the man said stiffly.

They were led to the hallway just outside the lounge with the Gritty decal that TK and Lawson had met Patty. He hated that he recognised so many parts of the arena because of behind the scenes videos, but he knew this was where a lot of pregame warmups were held.

“Thanks for taking me,” Claire said after they’d been standing in silence for a few minutes, giving Travis a hug. “Sorry if my jokes upset you.”

Travis returned her hug, pulling back with a smile. “Don’t worry, they don’t-”

“Holy fuck, is that -” The shout that interrupted him came from far down the hallway - the three of them automatically turned to face the source. Even from ten meters away Travis recognised the wide eyes and sharp jaw. Lawson rested a hand on his shoulder; the weight was comforting.

“Hey, Barzy,” TK called after clearing his throat. He swallowed his nerves and gave him a small wave.

“Travis mother _ fucking  _ Konecny.”

TK hadn’t seen Mathew Barzal in seven years, but he seemed just as loud and sincere as he’d been in Juniors.

“TK, buddy,” Mat yelled, jogging down the hall. “What the fuck, how have you been?”

Travis may have been anxious but he couldn’t help his smile. Twenty five and Mat’s voice still cracked like a pubescent teen and rose three octaves when he was excited. He looked like an excited dog, bounding down the hall.

“Been good.”

Mat grabbed TK by the shoulders before pulling him into a hug. He was in his game day suit but was still slightly damp from the shower. “Seven fucking years, dude.”

“Surprised you recognize me,” Travis grinned slightly when Mat pulled back after a hug that lasted a second too long for most people. “I’m a big boy now.”

“The beard and hair is new,” Mat nodded. He grabbed Travis by the shoulders again, looking him up and down, before shaking him firmly. “Haven’t grown though, can’t call yourself a big boy.”

Travis scoffed, knocking his hands away. “Oh, fuck you, at least my voice dropped.”

Mat threw his head back and let out a loud laugh. The sound echoed in the mostly empty hallway. “Low blow, man, low blow.”

“He’s short, he only knows how to land low blows,” Lawson said. Travis had almost forgotten he and Claire were there, too busy comparing the way Mat’s laugh echoed in the bowels of the Farg to the way it echoed on the ice seven years ago. 

Travis glared at Lawson who ignored him to introduce himself and Claire to Mat. “Really feeling the love.”

“I came to say hey to Hartsy, but I can always say hey to Hartsy,” Mat said with a shrug. They’d gone to World Juniors and Worlds together, Travis remembered. It definitely wasn’t the seven years that Travis hadn’t seen Mat. “What’s been up with you?”

Travis shrugged back. “Not much.”

Mat sent him a disdainful look. “Cut that shit out, it’s been over half a decade.”

TK laughed. “Okay, okay, fine. Long story short, I ended up going to school in Toronto. When I graduated me and Crouser moved to Philly.”

“Small fucking world. Do you know one of the Flyers, or whatever? I don’t think there’s anyone here who you’d have played with.”

Mat looked like he was hurting himself thinking so Travis gave him a summarised version of Kevin and his meet cute, or whatever.

“That’s the absolute best thing I’ve ever heard, holy fuck,” Mat laughed again.

“And now he won’t leave me alone,” Travis groaned.

“There are worse players to be stuck with,” Mat pointed out. Travis gave him that. “You said you graduated, yeah? You working?”

“I’ve actually been teaching here for a few years.”

Mat let out a loud ‘oooo’, shaking his head. “Mad props, dude, I couldn’t cut it as a teacher.”

Travis smirked. “I teach kindergarten, so you  _ might  _ be smart enough to teach kids how to tell time. Maybe.”

“You fucking -” Travis never learned what he was because Mat promptly grabbed him in a headlock.

“Why is it that every time I come out of the locker room you’re in a headlock,” a deep voice deadpanned.

Mat was distracted by Patty’s arrival, which TK took advantage of, slamming an elbow into Mat’s side. He barely budged, which was stupid if you asked Travis.

“He usually deserves it,” Lawson grinned.

“He’s very ‘pull into a headlock’ able,” Mat agreed with a laugh, letting go of Travis properly before turning to Nolan. “Patrick, ‘sup, man?” 

They did the customary athlete greeting of a fist bump/hand grasp/back slap before Patty slid to stand next to Travis, closer than was probably necessary for the amount of space that was available, not that TK was complaining. 

“You here for Carts?” Nolan asked, jerking his head towards the locker room he’d just left.

“I was, yeah,” Mathew nodded, punching TK on the shoulder, inadvertently sending him into Patty’s side. He was a wall of muscle and heat and TK was way too gay for this shit. “Got a bit distracted by TK.”

“He’s pretty distracting,” Nolan agreed, which, what? What the fuck does that mean?

“It’s because he’s so loud,” Law added with a grin.

Travis rolled his eyes, tragically righting himself so he wasn’t leaning against Nolan. “Yeah, yeah.”

“Give me your digits, man,” Mat said, making grabby hands at Travis until he handed over his phone. He cheerfully typed his number in, locking it before giving it back. “We’ll have to catch up next time I’m in town.”

“Yeah, totally,” Travis answered with an honest grin. He’d always liked Barzy, even if they didn’t know each other super well, even if he gravitated more towards Mitch and Dylan at every tournament they’d been in together, and it  _ would  _ be nice to talk to him again.

“Beau will be mad he missed you,” Mat added.

“Honestly surprised you remember me at all, it’s been so long,” Travis said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You’re kinda hard to forget, man,” Mat said with another wide grin. “We won medals together.”

Travis laughed. “Guess winning gold is kinda memorable.”

“Damn right.”

“Tell Tito I say hey, then.”

“For sure.” Mat’s wide smile faded into something a little smaller and he put a hand on TK’s shoulder. For all his big personality and half manic energy, Mat could do sincere really well. It’s in the eyes. “It’s been a while, yeah. It sucks what happened, and I can’t say it’s the same for all of the Team Canada boys, but seven years? That’s nothing.” His grin widened again and he winked cheekily. “You never forget your first, eh?”

TK shoved Mat’s hand off of his shoulder. “Gross, dude. Get your feelings away from me.”

Mat just laughed loudly and smacked a kiss on TK’s forehead because boundaries were never his strong suit. Travis wiped at his forehead dramatically when Mat pulled back.

There had been an inscrutable look on Nolan’s face the entire time he’d been in the hallway with them, looking between the two.

"Teeks!” And there was Kevin, who pushed Patty out of the way to throw his arms around Travis, smiling down at him until he seemed to notice there were other people in the hallway. “Oh, sup, Barzal.”

“Hey, man. Good game.”

“I’d apologise for beating you, but.” He shrugged. “Do you want me to grab Carter for you, or are you good finding him yourself?”

“Pretty sure I can find him myself,” Mat said, heading towards the locker room. He stopped, turning to grab Travis in another hug. “Don’t forget to text me your number, okay? I meant the thing about catching up.”

Kevin looked in between the two of them. “You two know each other?”

“Team Canada,” Travis explained. “It was like ten years ago.”

“It was only seven, and I told you!” Mat interjected with a smirk. “You never forget your first, oh captain my captain.”

Travis pushed Mathew in the direction of the locker room. “Yeah, yeah, tell Beauvillier I said hey.”

“Will do.” He waved one more time before heading to find Hart.

Kevin turned to face them again. “Teeks, Lawson, beautiful woman who I don’t know but I’m assuming is Woodsy’s girlfriend, the boys wanna meetcha.”

“I’m Claire,” Claire smiled because Lawson was too busy staring incredulously at Kevin to introduce her.

"Sorry...did you say  _ Woodsy?” _

“Yeah. Problem?”

“My last name isn’t Wood or anything of the sort. Where the hell did Woodsy come from.”

"Uh, your first name is Lawson," Kevin said like it was obvious. Maybe to his Bostonian brain it was. God knows Travis didn't want to know what went on in Kevin's mind. "Lawson. Law. Lawyer. Legally Blonde, bro. Elle Woods. Woodsy. Keep up, you fucking idiot."

"That's - definitely unique,” Lawson blinked. He was used to weird hockey nicknames, but even Travis had to agree it was a little strange.

"I'm one of a kind, baby!" Why was he so loud?

"One of a kind isn't always a good thing, Hayes,” Patty mumbled, almost too low to pick out.

“Whatever. Time to meet the boys!” He bounded away, not even checking to see if they were following. Next to Travis, Pat let out his usual long suffering ‘Kevin Hayes is my friend’ sigh.

It was unfortunately becoming a sigh Travis had started using as well.

“Nice jersey,” Patty said quietly in TK’s ear; Travis shivered at his hot breath. “Carts would be happy to sign it.”

“Twenty bucks,” Travis grinned, plucking at the collar of his Hart away jersey. 

“It’s not a Gritty jersey, but it’ll do,” Pat mumbled.

“You said you’d be getting me a Gritty jersey, though,” Travis pointed out. Patty just rolled his eyes and started walking, tugging him along by the wrist.

Travis had felt Patty’s long fingers wrap around his wrist multiple times - more times than seemed normal for someone he’d just met - but this was the first time he’d grabbed his right wrist. Calloused fingers pressed against the scar on his forearm, loosening when Travis tensed slightly.

“You okay?” Patty asked lowly, in the same way Lawson always did, gently but not pitying. He probably understood how it felt when someone pities you for an injury.

Travis nodded; Patty sent him a small smile and stroked his thumb against the length of his scar. He felt it straight to his toes.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little shorter than usual updates but she’s here!

They all followed Kevin to the same side lounge with the Gritty decal where they’d met Nolan; there were about a dozen Flyers gathered. Patty dropped his wrist as soon as they entered, shoving his hands in the pockets of his trousers.

Travis swallowed his nerves for the second time that night, but felt them get caught in his throat and refuse to go down. There was a difference between running into an old friend and meeting an entire hockey team.

“Listen up, boys.” They all did, even Giroux. Kevin had that personality that commanded attention, which could be both a good and bad thing. “I know none of you losers believed that they existed, but the short one is TK, the taller one is Lawson, the woman is Lawson’s better half.”

“I’m perfectly average size, fucker,” Travis laughed, nerves gone. Kevin was loud, brash, annoying as fuck, and dumb as rocks but he knew how to make someone more comfortable.

“Maybe for a middle schooler.”

“I could bench press you.”

“That’s kinda hot, bro. Promise?”

Travis face-washed him without another word. Kevin just laughed and tugged him across the room.

The first Flyer he met - or, the fifth, technically - was the captain himself. He smiled at the three of them; Travis tried to tamp down the awestruck feeling in his chest. This was different than when he’d met Kevin or Nolan. This was Claude Giroux, captain of the Philadelphia Flyers, someone he’d looked up to for years

“Kevin will  _ not _ shut up about you. It’s gotten to the point where we just ignore him when he opens his mouth.”

“So you’re saying you listened to him before?”

Claude threw his head back and laughed over the sound of Kevin’s drawn out ‘Hey!’. “Fair point.”

“Fucking rude,” Kevin grumbled. “See if I introduce you to Carts now.”

Travis puckered his lips. “Aw, you love me really.”

Kevin sent him a look that was probably meant to be unimpressed. 

“If you’re shooting for unimpressed, bud, you have to know you’ll never beat that guy,” TK said, jabbing a thumb in Pat’s direction.

Patty rolled his eyes. “If you weren’t so fucking annoying I wouldn’t have to be so unimpressed.”

Travis blew him a dramatic kiss, watching in fascination as a blush spread across his cheeks.

“Stop flirting with Patty in front of his father,” Kevin scolded. “Come on, there’s a few more to meet.”

Travis stuttered out an objection while Claude rolled his eyes at being called Patty’s father.

“These two idiots you’ve already met,” Kevin said, gesturing to Sanny and Laughts. Sanny threw himself into TK’s arms like they were best friends, separated for years, and not sort of friends that had been separated for a week. Scott just slapped him and Law on the shoulder and shook Claire’s hand.

He was guided - dragged - around the room, Lawson and Claire following much less violently. Provorov was just as handsome in person, Travis noted, and Farabee was just as deserving of a face wash as Travis had assumed he’d be. Voracek had the sort of energy he’d have to be drunk to appreciate fully, and he decided then there that he would kill for Oskar Lindblom.

“Matt. Stromer’s alright, too.” Baby Strome squinted at TK slightly, tilting his head. They’d met once, years ago, before Matthew had even gone through puberty. He probably had a vague memory of Travis.

Matthew Strome didn’t look much like his brother. He was tall like Dylan, had the same sort of nervous, awkward energy that was a fucking  _ scam  _ because when Dylan opened his mouth hesitancy flew out the window. TK wondered if it was the same with his younger brother.

“And last but certainly not least -”

Travis felt his cheeks heat. Was this how Nolan felt, every time his cheeks betrayed him? Absolute fucking horror?

“Carter,” Hart said, sticking out his hand. His hair was even nicer up close, even if it was still wet from his shower. Travis couldn’t help but notice how rigid his posture was and stood up a bit straighter. His mother always did say he had a nasty slouch.

“Travis,” he responded, hoping his hand wasn’t sweaty when he gripped Carter’s.

“Nice jersey,” Carter smiled softly. There should be butterflies and singing birds surrounding him whenever he smiled, like he was a fucking Disney princess. Though he was pretty sure Oskar actually  _ was  _ a Disney prince, so maybe the birds and butterflies surrounded  _ him _ . There were enough birds and butterflies for both of them, surely.

“Sign it, Hartsy,” Kevin called, throwing a marker in his direction; he caught it, of course he did.

“Chest okay?”

“Yeah, for sure,” Travis nodded. Oh, god, he was touching his chest now. He managed to meet Claude Giroux without passing out, he could totally do this.

Carter signed his name on the logo quickly, giving another sweet smile. Before Travis could thank him or pass out at how fucking  _ cute  _ he was, he felt a firm hand on the nape of his neck, a broad chest against his back. Carter looked over his shoulder at Patty - because it was Patty, it had to be - and smirked slightly, raising both hands in surrender, one still clutching the marker. “Nice to meet you both, and Claire as well. Hopefully Kevin will bring you around more often.”

He sent one last amused glance at Patty and nodded at TK and Lawson, before leaving the lounge.

_/\\_

“Gonna frame it?” Lawson asked, gesturing at TK’s jersey.

“Yeah, probably.”

Lawson snickered, toeing off his shoes and placing them on the shoe rack by the door. “Your face when you met Hart was priceless.”

“Don’t remind me,” Travis groaned. “I’m so embarrassed.”

“Though the way Patrick responded was even more priceless.”

“I couldn’t see his face so I don’t know how he responded.”

“Travis," Lawson said in his "you're being an idiot" voice. "He walked halfway across the room to put his hands on you because you were blushing at another man.”

“Come on, man, no he didn’t.”

“ _ Travis _ ," Lawson repeated. "He had a pissing contest with Carter fucking Hart. Over your short ass.”

TK rolled his eyes. “Stop being a dick.”

Lawson started at him for a minute before pulling his phone out and shooting off a rapid text. “Want me to put a frozen pizza in?”

“Make sure to remove the plastic.”

“Fuck you, I’m not that bad of a cook.”

“Okay, you have gotten better.”

“Sorry if we’re not all prime house husband material.” He turned to preheat the oven before sitting down beside TK to wait. “Wild night.”

Travis sighed. “I’m exhausted.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah, just - long day.”

“I get that.”

TK’s phone buzzed in his pocket while Law was putting the pizza in.

**Pattycakes:**

_ Okay? _

**Sent:**

_ Long night _

“Well,” Lawson said, dropping down next to Travis again. “I’m pretty proud of you.”

TK smiled at the phone in his hands. “I’m kinda proud of me, too.”

**Pattycakes:**

_ Hope we could entertain at least a little _

**Sent:**

_ I always enjoy watching u play  _

Which, may be a little bit too honest. But Nolan didn’t need to know his hockey made Travis horny, right?

**Pattycakes:**

_ Even when we lose? _

**Sent:**

_ Even then _

Lawson dropped a plate full of pizza onto his lap.

“Thanks, bud.”

“Daddy provides,” Lawson said with a waggle of his eyebrows.

“Okay, don’t make a sugar daddy joke,” Travis started. Lawson suddenly looked more alert. “But Patty actually. Well, I told you I got the number of his therapist?”

Lawson nodded, taking a bite of his pizza.

“He, uh,” Travis coughed. “He offered to pay for therapy, because I can’t afford it?”

Lawson blinked. “That’s...very nice of him.”

“Fine, make the sugar baby joke,” TK sighed and gestured for him to go on.

“I don’t think I even need to,” Lawson snickered. “I think you’ve said enough for the both of us.”

Travis looked down. “It was hard for me to accept, but he has the money, you know?”

Lawson nodded again.

**Pattycakes:**

_ Was Carter all you’d hoped. _

Travis smiled slightly at the memory.

**Sent:**

**** _ Actual dreamboat Carter Hart _

**Pattycakes:**

_ Should I as your boyfriend be offended that you think another man is a dreamboat? _

That was flirting, right? He had to be flirting.

“I think Patty is flirting with me.”

Lawson pinched the bridge of his nose but didn’t deem that worthy of a response.

**Sent:**

_ Nah bc you’re the dreamiest _

_ No homo _

“So like, you’re mostly straight. If I add no homo at the end, that totally makes it less gay, right?”

“Travis, I don’t think adding no homo has ever made  _ anything _ seem less gay.”

**Pattycakes:**

_ Pretty homo Travis _

**Sent:**

_ Pro homo _

**Pattycakes:**

_ Better _

Travis finished his pizza, rubbing at his belly. “Thanks for making dinner.”

“I’d say any time, but I also don’t want us to die from food poisoning.”

TK snorted. “You’re lucky I’m competent.”

“Surprisingly, you’re very competent. I feel like you shouldn’t be.”

“Are you insulting my vibes?”

“Shut up and text your boyfriend,” Lawson said with a grin. “Your vibes are vile.”

**Pattycakes:**

_ Dreamier than Barzal? _

Okay,  _ definitely  _ flirting. 

**Sent:**

_ Dreamier than barzal  _

**Pattycakes:**

_ Dreamier than Sid? _

**Sent:**

_ Dreamier than Sid _

**Pattycakes:**

_ :) _

Travis was going to die, full stop, and the cause was Nolan using ‘:)’. Not even emoji form, or sarcastic ‘:)’, just ‘:)’ to mean happy.

**Pattycakes:**

_ Just wanted to see how you were doing _

_ Going to bed _

_ Night _

**Sent:**

_ Night night  _

_ don’t let the bed bugs bite _

“I think Claire had a good time tonight. Thanks for thinking of her.”

“For sure.”

“I think she could be, like. The one,” Lawson admitted softly, staring at his plate. Travis would murder for him and his stupid face, without a doubt.

“I’m really happy for you,” Travis responded with a soft smile.

“If it works out, do you think it would be alright if we found a bigger place for the three of us?”

Travis was weirdly touched that he wouldn’t just be tossed to the curb. “Aw. Only if you promise to send me a text before you have loud sex so I can put earplugs in.”

Lawson laughed. “Deal. Same with you.”

TK scoffed. “When am I ever going to have loud sex? I don’t have the time.”

**Pattycakes:**

_ don’t think I have dominion over them but I’ll try _

“Lawson, he’s really cute.”

“I diagnose you with useless gay,” Lawson said in his best ‘if I was wearing glasses I’d be looking over them, future therapist’ voice.

“Okay, rude.”

Lawson just gave him a toothy grin and finished his pizza.

Travis stood, stretching his arms above his head, shirt riding up slightly. Lawson in all of his best friend graciousness tickled the soft spot of belly Travis had never been able to truly get rid of. He slapped the hand away but was too tired to retaliate.

“Bedtime for Mr. K.”

“I hate when you use your teacher voice.”

Travis just stole a piece of pepperoni from Law’s pizza as he passed. “Goodnight, babe.”

“Night, Trav.”

_/\\_

His phone rang right as he began to make lunch. When he saw the ID a flash of terror went through his entire body.

“Mom? Is everything all right? Did something happen?”

“Everything’s fine, sweetheart.”

Travis felt a surge of relief. “Sorry, you just don’t call on Mondays is all.”

“We just wanted to apologise for not believing you the other night,” she continued. “We saw the video from the game Saturday, you two looked very friendly. And that number thirteen is mighty cute, eh?”

“It’s okay - wait, what video?” He wrinkled his nose. “Also, ew, gross.”

“The video of you getting those pucks.” She paused. That wasn’t clarifying anything, but he let her keep talking. “I also wanted to check and make sure you were alright, what with them saying who you are and all.”

Travis felt his stomach drop straight to the floor.

Or, he waited for his stomach to drop to the floor, but the feeling never came.

“I’m alright.” He paused. “I actually ran into one of the Canada guys last night. It went a lot better than I thought it would.”

“I’m so proud of you, baby. And I can’t wait to meet Nolan."

“Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

“I’ll let you get back to what you were doing.”

Travis laughed. “I’m just making lunch.”

“Don’t put off doing the dishes.”

She hung up before he could protest. Instead of putting his phone down and going back to his lunch, he opened his twitter - private, thank god - and pulled up the official NHL account.

** _‘Past Prospect Trades Positive Reinforcement For Puck - Twice’_ ** , the caption to the video read.

Positive reinforcement was an interesting way to describe good job stickers, but he clicked on the video anyway.

_ ‘Those of you who paid attention to Junior hockey before the 2015 draft may recognize this fan. Travis Konecny was seventeen when he captained Team Canada to gold at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament; he was also just seventeen when he had a career ending injury. _

_ But not playing didn’t stop him from loving hockey.’ _

Travis scoffed. Just barely.

There was footage of him playing in juniors, which he tried not to watch, and finally footage of him throwing the crayons over the board for pucks.

_ ‘He got two pucks: one from Hayes and one from Patrick. He ended up giving the pucks to two grateful fans sitting near him.’ _

There was still a minute left after they showed him giving the pucks to those two boys. Travis groaned. What the fuck else.

It cut to a post game media scrum - Nolan, surrounded by reporters and looking like he wished he could go back in time and play just an average game so he wouldn’t be first star and subsequently get more press time.

A large hand reached into frame and smacked Patty on the forehead. When Kevin pulled his hand back there was a star on his forehead.

_ “One star for the first star,”  _ said the Kevin on his phone. Nolan let out a loud laugh and batted at Kevin slightly.

The video ended there. It was released last night, and he went against his better judgement and looked at the first comment thread.

**Philadelphia Flyers Retweeted @NHL:**

_ Good job sticker for a job well done. Thanks, Travis! _

**Reply from @titobeauvi21**

_ Where’s mine? _

**Reply to @titobeauvi21 and @NHL from @marner93**

_ You lost, losers don’t get stickers _

**Reply to @titobeauvi21 and @NHL from @marner93**

_ I’M jealous of the crayons  _

**Reply to @marner93 and @NHL from @titobeauvi21**

_ Because you’re a child in a 25 y/o body? _

**Reply to @titobeauvi21 and @NHL from @marner93**

_ EXACTLY! _

Travis exited out of the app before he could have an anxiety attack.

That - wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be, even if he had to look away from the highlights of his playing and had to stop looking at twitter because Marner and Beauvillier were interacting.

And it made his parents believe him about knowing - fuck,  _ dating  _ \- Patty. 

In a single word -

Yikes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right so! I apologise that this fic will probably end up being like 100k I didn’t MEAN for it to be THIS slow burn. Sorry!


	9. Chapter 9

“Told you Marner still remembers you,” Law said through a mouthful of the chicken and rice Travis made for dinner that night.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Travis said automatically, because, gross, this man was studying to be a doctor. “Also I never said he doesn’t remember me. _ He _never had a career ending concussion.”

“Thought it was your wrist that ended your career,” Law said with a small smirk, like it hadn’t taken them five years to be able to joke about his retirement, like it was a common thing now instead of something Lawson would joke about once every six months.

“Eh, semantics.” Travis waved said wrist dismissively. “I’m trying to make a point.”

“Then stop using your tragic backstory as a plot device and make it, jeez.”

“I never said he wouldn’t remember me,” TK repeated, not pointing out that his tragic backstory was _ always _ a go to plot device, because that’s how tragic backstories worked. “Just that he wouldn’t, you know, remember _ me, _as, like, a person.”

“Barzal did,” Law pointed out.

“Well, that’s Barzy,” Travis replied, like that meant anything, because him and Mat hadn’t even really been that close.

Lawson raised both eyebrows. “What, so you’re telling me Mitch Marner is the type to let things go?”

Travis didn’t have an answer for that, because he had a point. Marns was a clinger, probably remembered Travis more than Travis remembered him, but Lawson didn’t have to say it. It was the principle of the thing.

“Just over a week until the fam comes.” Lawson’s change of subject was almost appreciated, if the new subject hadn’t been _ that. _

TK groaned, finishing the last of his dinner. “Don’t remind me. My parents are so excited to meet Patty."

Lawson nodded at where Travis’s phone had just buzzed on the table. “Speak of the devil.”

“You don’t know that,” Travis said petulantly, unlocking his phone,

It was, of course, Nolan, but Law didn’t need to be a dick about it.

**Pattycakes:**

_ Dinner Reservation for the 27th _

**Sent:**

_ How formal? _

Travis stood up, grabbing his now empty plate and bringing it to the kitchen, where he stayed to respond to Patty’s messages.

**Pattycakes:**

_ Tie but no jacket _

**Sent:**

_ Gotta impress, eh? _

**Pattycakes:**

_ Ofc _

_ Cod later? _

Travis sent back a thumbs up before leaning a hip against the countertop and opening a new message to his family’s group chat, lovingly titled ‘Konect Four’ (no one thought it was as funny as TK did, but that was their loss).

**Sent:**

_ Bring nice clothes _

_ Pats treating you to dinner _

_ Tie but no jacket _

**Inferior Son:**

_ Hotshot. _

**Mother Dearest:**

_ Tell him that’s so sweet of him! _

Jesus, that was fast. They were probably together, Travis summarized, because their texts weren’t usually so rapid fire.

**Sent:**

_ See yall next week. _

_/\\_

The next week passed in a haze of Patty - Travis wasn’t complaining, he loved talking to Patty, considered him a close friend at this point - and it helped keep his mind at ease.

But all too soon, Lawson was packing his bags and heading back to Canada, and TK was cleaning their apartment in preparation for his family’s arrival.

It wasn’t until the night before that he realized he had an issue; he’d said he’d pick them up from the airport.

He could apologize, say he forgot that Chase was coming, too, and they’d gladly get a cab. But this was the first time in three years his parents had seen Philly, the very first time his brother was going to see it. He didn’t want them to pay way too much money for a cab.

Unless - ugh. He pulled out his phone.

**Sent:**

_ so you have the day off tomorrow_

**Pattycakes:**

_ We do. You know this. _

**Sent:**

_ Could you maybe do me a huuuuuuuuge favor? _

**Pattycakes:**

_ Depends on the favor. _

**Sent:**

_ Call me? _

**Pattycakes:**

_ Is that the favor? _

A phone call interrupts Travis’s reply.

“What now?” Patty sighed.

“So like - my family is coming in tomorrow night.”

“I am aware,” was Patty’s flat reply.

“And like. I said I would pick them up from the airport? But I didn’t consider that my bro was coming as well, so I can’t fit all of them in my car with their bags.”

There was a pause.

“Is this you asking me if I can pick them up?”

“Please?” He sounded frantic to his own ears. Which - he probably didn’t need to be.

“What if I had plans?”

“Oh, fuck, sorry, I’ll just - figure it out -” Travis hung up without another word. Which may have been an overreaction. Slightly. He was nervous, he was allowed to overreact.

Nolan called back immediately. “Drama queen.”

“I’m nervous,” Travis admitted.

“I know,” Patty replied, voice softening slightly. “And I’m not busy. I’ll have to stay in the car in case I’m recognised, but I’ll pick up your family.”

Travis couldn’t help his sigh of relief. “Thanks, Nol. I’ll message you with the details.”

“Anytime. Was that all?”

“Yeah, sorry. 

“Stop apologising, dumbass.”

“I can give you gas money or something.”

Patty hung up, which he probably deserved.

He could totally do this.

_/\\_

Patty always looked good, that was a fact. It just was. Water was wet, the Earth was round, and Nolan Patrick looked good.

But he’d washed his hair and put on _ nice _clothes - nothing fancy, but he was wearing a navy sweater that TK wanted to bury himself in - and it had to be to meet the Konecny’s.

“Did you dress up to meet my family?” 

“Excuse me if I thought showering before meeting my boyfriend’s family was a given,” he grumbled, cheeks red.

“Well, be prepared for my mom to call you a ‘lovely boy’ every five minutes,” TK said with a grin instead of paying attention to how his heart flipped in his chest when Nolan called him his boyfriend.

“Only if you’re prepared for my mom to call you a nice boy, and repeat some shit about ‘how great it was that Nolan wasn’t all alone in that big city anymore’,” Patty countered.

“Oh, yeah, you’ll get that from my family, too,” Travis grinned. “And I _ am _a nice boy.”

“Bull fucking shit.”

“Hey! I am! Or, I give good parent at the very least.”

Patty’s smile was slight as he looked at Travis from the driver’s seat. “I can believe that.”

“Thank you for this. I know I’ve already said it.”

“If you say thank you one more time I will push you out of this car,” Patty threatened.

“Then you’d have to meet my family alone,” Travis pointed out.

“A small price to pay.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

They’d pulled up to the airport, now, and TK’s nerves were back.

“I’ll park. Shoot me a message when you’re ready for me to pick you up.”

“Righto.”

_/\\_

“Hi, sweetheart,” his mom said, cradling his face in her hands after nearly strangling him with a hug. “It's so good to see you.” 

“You, too,” TK smiled, hugging his father and his brother as well before nodding in the direction of baggage claim. “How was the flight?”

“Not too bad,” Chase shrugged. “As good as flying internationally can be.”

“So pretty shit, eh?”

Chase nodded with a laugh. 

“Your mother can’t wait to meet this boy of yours,” his father said with his own laugh, like he wasn’t just as excited to meet Nolan as his wife was. Travis was nice enough to not say that, though.

Travis chewed on his bottom lip. “You know you can’t say anything, right? Because he’s out to family and friends and his teammates but not _ out _out.”

“Of course we’d never say anything,” his mom said, reaching for her luggage when it finally came around, the other bags quickly following. 

Travis gave her a half shrug. “I had assumed you wouldn’t, but better safe than sorry.”

His family had all seen the effects of being outed when you’re a hockey player, and while most of the Flyers seemed to be alright with Nolan, the rest of the NHL couldn’t be counted on to show any sort of acceptance. Travis refused to let homophobia end Nolan Patrick’s career, even if he had to fight every goon in the NHL.

There was one final bag that came around and it stopped him in his tracks. Lawson had made comments about it, had rolled his eyes when the excuse of “my parents have it” was used, but he wasn’t expecting this. His mom rested a hand on his back.

“We got a new bag, the other was shot to hell, hope that’s okay.”

“Yeah, I mean,” Travis cleared his throat. “Wasn’t emotionally attached to the bag.”

“The pads won’t fit anymore, but the skates should,” his dad added. Travis nodded dumbly. Who wanted to wear gross smelly pads, anyway. He’d have to save up for new ones - because he was doing this. He was going to get on skates again, maybe join that beer league Lawson wanted him to.

Travis picked up his gear bag and slung it over his shoulder with the familiarity that came with carrying hockey gear his entire childhood and teen years; the weight was only slightly devastating.

“Now,” his mom said, leading them away from baggage claim like she knew exactly where she was going without looking at any of the signs; Travis gently guided her in the right direction. “Where’s your car parked? I’m starving.”

“Uh, about that - yeah, I didn’t have room in my car for luggage so he’s here to pick you up. Nolan, I mean. He won’t be able to get out of the car, so proper intros will be made later.”

“Is he coming to yours for dinner?” his mother asked, poorly disguised hope on her face.

“Um.” Travis scratched at his nose. “I’ll ask.”

“He treats you right, yeah?” his brother asked, adjusting his grip on his carryon.

“We’re not doing this in the middle of the airport,” TK groaned, dragging a hand roughly down his face. “In fact, we’re not doing this at all.”

Chase laughed. “What? I just want to know what his intentions are.”

“Don’t you dare give my boyfriend a shovel talk.”

“Dad and I are going to double team him, right, Dad?” Their father nodded, looking just as amused as Chase.

“Come _ on. _I know what he does for a living is macho as hell but that doesn’t mean you have to perpetuate it.”

“I have no idea what you mean,” Chase said, walking quickly ahead of them. Travis hurried to catch him, punching his shoulder.

“His intentions are perfectly nice,” Travis sighed, directing them through the exit. The black Range Rover was already parked at the curb, and he sighed again. 

_ Here we go. _

He shoved their bags in the trunk without saying hello to Nolan, his gear at the bottom, and jumped in the backseat, letting his mom take the passenger.

“Family, Nolan, Nolan, family,” Travis said dismissively once all four car doors had been closed. “I’m supposed to ask you if you want to come for dinner.”

“Travis,” his mother clucked her tongue. “Ask him properly.”

He rolled his eyes. “Dearest Nolan, light of my life, only man I see, would you _ please _ accompany us for dinner at my apartment?”

Patty sent him an unreadable look in the mirror, blush curiously dark, but nodded. “For sure. It’s nice to meet you three.”

“You, too. We can’t wait to do this properly,” his mom said, clapping. Proper clapping. Consciously bringing her hands together and clapping.

“You better be ready for the Spanish Inquisition,” Chase added dryly from next to Travis.

“My family is worse,” Patty said with a small laugh. “And I have two sisters instead of just one brother.”

“Yeah, yeah, just give him the address,” Travis interrupted.

Patty and his mother exchanged a look - fuck, they were getting along, they’ve already exchanged a _ look _at his expense, this was literally the worst timeline - but eventually the address was plugged into his GPS.

“Travis said your family was coming for New Year’s?” his mother asked once they were on the road. They only had half an hour of this before there was the buffer of food.

“Yeah, they get here on the 28th and leave the 6th,” Nolan answered. TK couldn’t see her face but he knew his mom well enough to know she’d lit up at that.

“Oh, I hope we can meet them,” she said, a grin obvious in her voice.

“I think they’d like that,” Patty said with his own grin.

“Are they staying with you?”

Nolan nodded. “We have a couple spare bedrooms.”

His mom took a deep breath and launched into her own version of their ‘questions to get to know each other’ game. Learning Patty would want Katharine Hepburn to play him in a movie seemed like a lifetime ago.

“Mom, you really don’t need to know about his childhood pets,” TK injected. 

“Well, excuse me if I would like to get to know your boyfriend,” his mother responded, pursing her lips. 

“That doesn’t mean you need to know about the hamster he had when he was twelve that he named after Anze Kopitar.” Which Travis now knew about, and who died tragically, and who Patty made a small hamster grave for.

“Oh, look, we’ve arrived at our destination,” his father said loudly before the two of them could get in a fight.

Chase snorted, hopping out of the car almost before it stopped, like he couldn’t wait to get away from the drama. Travis could relate, though he would have done it while they were going seventy on the interstate.

Nolan parked the car at the curb and got out to help with the bags, blushing furiously when his mom called him a ‘lovely boy’ for helping, when she pulled him into a quick hug before she even let him open the trunk.

“And so handsome and tall!” his mom exclaimed. Somehow Patty’s cheeks grew even redder. 

“Everyone is handsome and tall compared to Travis,” his brother snickered, dodging TK’s swat.

“I’m sure he’s taller than some of his students,” Patty said through his blush. He didn’t even bother dodging TK’s swat, just laughed slightly and went to finally get the bags out of the trunk. His hands hesitated over the gear bag at the bottom.

“That’s - that’s mine,” Travis explained before Patty could question it. He cocked his head, the question silent, and TK shrugged. Pat nodded slightly and dropped the topic.

After his family was checked in and settled, they piled back into the car and headed to Travis and Lawson’s place, stopping to pick up pizza because it was cheap and quick and if Travis was treating his family they were getting average and nothing more.

_/\\_

By the time his family was sent away and he was showered and lying in bed, Bee on his pillow and Honey on his legs, he wanted to rip his hair out.

It hadn’t even gone bad, is the thing. It had gone better than Travis could have hoped. Nolan had held his hand, kissed his cheek, dealt with his mom’s questions with the grace of someone who had to deal with Philly reporters for years. He’d smiled and laughed and wouldn’t stop touching Travis: his lower back, the nape of his neck, even rather memorably tucking a piece of hair behind his ear with a blush darker than anything Travis had seen on him.

For the benefit of Travis’s sanity he ended up leaving after only an hour, claiming exhaustion, but had spent ten minutes apologizing for not being able to drop them back at their B&B. He promised to do lunch tomorrow, though, when TK’s mother would have a full night’s sleep and be even more dangerous.

Watching Patty interact with his family had been the absolute worst thing in the world. His mother had adored him, probably more than she loved her own sons, and spent the entire hour he was here fawning over him. His brother and father hadn’t given him the shovel talk - yet - and didn’t make anything weird. He’d helped carry their bags and blushed when his mom called him a lovely boy. 

It was the absolute worst thing in the world, because Travis -

Travis would suck Patty dry, would bite bruises into his pale skin that he’d get fined for the next day at practice, would press him into the mattress and rail him until he couldn’t say anything but Travis’s name, would put him on his hands and knees and edge him until he cried.

That was a given, but those were things he locked away in a box labelled “Things We Don’t Think About Our Friends Because No Matter How Much You Want To Ride Him Until You Can’t Walk the Next Day Those Are Not Thoughts You Should Have”.

And he was almost successful at that. Or, he was doing his best and wasn’t completely the worst at it.

The part he was worst at was compartmentalising the _ other _ shit. The gooey, romantic stuff he’d never properly done before. The cheesy stuff he’d never felt comfortable admitting he wanted to do.

Walk along the river at sunset and then share the sunrise the next morning, comfortable under the covers of his - their - bed. Split a milkshake, hold hands at the movies, kiss at the top of a carousel, dance along to pop music in the kitchen while making dinner, volunteer at the shelter together.

Hold hands at family skates and prop the wall at the nondenominational winter party his school had every December, glasses of fruit punch in their hands.

Invite him over for their weekly game nights so he wasn’t third wheeling, be each other’s dates to their mutual friends’ weddings. Post couple pictures on Instagram, go to games wearing Nolan’s jersey. 

And he was getting a part of that, but he’d never get all of it. He’d only known this man a few weeks, but Christ if he wouldn’t risk so much for him.

Travis had become a man perpetually torn between dropping to one knee or two, and it was all Nolan Patrick’s fault.

There was a possibility he hadn’t thought this through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! We’re finally meeting the fam after almost 40k woohoo! 
> 
> Also excuse the disgusting fluff for the last few hundred words


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo sorry that this took so long and is only 2k! We've all had a bit of a rough time lately, ha. Hopefully I will update more regularly now that i'm in the swing of it again!

“Nolan seems very nice,” his mother said with an entirely too smug grin, as if she was the one who introduced them. Though, considering she  _ was  _ the reason they were doing this whole ‘shebang’, maybe she should have credit. She gave him life, so it was fitting that she would be the reason for his demise.

Because he was going to die. There was no other option. He was going to die and it was going to be his mother’s fault.

“He’s very nice,” Travis agreed reluctantly; though he’d rarely ever describe Nolan as ‘nice’. Bitchy, moody, so incredibly extra it was almost painful, possibly the love of his life. “He also is a little shy, so please don’t harass him too much.”

“Opposites attract, eh?” Chase smirked, taking a sip of his coke. They’d gotten to the cafe early for brunch - his mother obviously wanted the chance to gossip with him before Nolan showed up - so it was closer to breakfast than lunch. His brother was taking every chance to smirk at Travis over the rim of the coke he’d ordered while waiting for Patty. “Nice, shy - what does he want with you?”

Travis just rolled his eyes and tried to ignore the part that agreed. Why would Patty even want a friend like Travis? 

“I mean it,” Travis pressed. 

“When have we ever been anything but perfectly cordial to your partners?”

“I -” Instead of chirping back like he normally would, Travis cleared his throat and stared down at his lap. “I really like him.”

“Oh, honey,” his mom interjected with a gentler smile. “It’s wonderful to see you like this.”

Chase snorted. “It’s disgusting, is what it is.”

“Hey, now, I’ve never made fun of one of your girlfriends,” Travis whined.

The look Chase sent him was one TK had tried to emulate his entire teen years but could hardly manage. “Without fail you make fun of my girlfriends.”

“Whatever,” Travis waved off. “You’ve never been with a millionaire hockey player.”

“Does he have any single teammates?”

“Oh fuck off,” Travis laughed relunctantly, ignoring his mother’s  _ ‘Language’, _ like they were kids at the dinner table. “You’re not allowed to hit on any of my boyfriend’s friends to make a point.”

“Your homophobia knows no limit,” Chase responded, shaking his head. Travis kicked him hard under the table.

“Boys,” their father warned.

“Fine, fine,” Chase sighed dramatically. “I won’t hit on any of Travis’s boyfriend’s friends.”

“Now,” their mom started. “You never told us properly how you two met and got together. ‘Mutual friend’ doesn’t cut it, hun.”

Now it was TK’s turn to sigh dramatically. Patty and him had agreed to stick close to the truth, but to shuffle Kevin and TK’s meeting a bit farther back. It was easier to be close to the truth than to completely falsify something, even though it was definitely another thing for Chase to make fun of him for.

“Lawson and I were going out, Kevin Hayes ran into me on the street and knocked me over, we went out for a drink to make up for the fact that he almost gave me a concussion. Patty says Hayesy pretty much imprinted on me and Law,” Travis shrugged. “He introduced us.”

Chase fake yawned loudly. “Bo-ring.”

“I don’t know, that’s actually very sweet.”

“How he told it was boring,” Chase conceded. “The story is kind of ridiculous and definitely sounds like a rom com.”

Travis rolls his eyes with a heavy sigh. “Kevin keeps calling it our ‘meet cute’.”

“You sure Kevin’s not the one you’re in love with?”

“Kevin’s the one you called good looking, Mom,” Travis diverted, because they’d barely been friends for five minutes and he didn’t even want to think about the word love. Even if he tended to fall fast - God, but was he a disastrous homosexual. “Maybe if you’re nice to Patty he’ll introduce you.”

“Kevin Hayes? Really?” Chase asked incredulously. 

“He’s handsome!” his mom said through a laugh.

“For a muppet!” Travis added with a laugh of his own, because Kevin wasn’t  _ unattractive.  _ Just - next to Patty, anyone would be unattractive. He was good looking in a muppet, horse faced, big man, kinda way. 

“You didn’t just call Kevin Hayes a muppet,” Chase said, grinning. “I thought you were BFFs.”

“Well, he’s not completely wrong. He does act like a muppet sometimes,” came a voice from behind Travis.

“Nolan!” his mother exclaimed, attempting to change the subject from her ill advised crush. “I was just about to make Travis text you.”

“Sorry I’m a little late, practice went a bit longer than expected,” Nolan explained, ducking his head with a sheepish grin. His hair was still slightly damp from his shower, but when he unzipped his coat Travis could see he was wearing proper jeans and a polo shirt. The difference between this Patty and the Patty that cussed him out over CoD two nights ago was extraordinary. 

He sat in the empty seat next to Travis, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. TK felt his face flush and ignored Chase, who was smirking over the rim of his glass again.

“No worries, we were just about to explain to mother dearest why if she had any taste she’d at least find Giroux more attractive than Hayes,” Chase snickered, dodging his mom’s gentle swat. 

“Yeah, would definitely recommend Claude over Kevin,” Patty nodded.

“Me, too,” Travis agreed. “He’s hot. Hayesy is - well.”

“Are you meant to say that with your boyfriend right there?” Chase asked, raising a brow.

Travis turned a smile he knew was too fond towards Patty; he thought  _ ‘fuck it’  _ and reached to run a hand through damp hair. ‘ _ He must have brushed it before coming here,’  _ TK thought. He rested his hand gently at the nap of Nolan’s neck and spoke to his brother without looking away from Patty’s quickly darkening cheeks. “He knows he’s the only one for me. Right, babe?”

Nolan ignored him to look at his menu but didn’t shrug off his hand. Travis moved to put his arm more comfortably around Patty’s shoulders, leaving it on back of his chair for - family purposes. Definitely not so he could feel the warmth of Patty under his arm. He couldn’t do this standing up without reaching like an idiot, but he found he rather liked it.

“We’ll have to split the bill,” Travis smirked. “Patty eats like a professional hockey player and  _ will  _ order ten sandwiches.”

Patty rolled his eyes and dug an elbow into TK’s vulnerable side. “We’re not splitting the bill, because I’ll be paying for all of us. And I wouldn’t order ten sandwiches.”

“Would too.”

Nolan didn’t take the bait, ignoring him once more.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“How many opportunities is he going to have to impress the family?” 

Travis kicked Chase for what felt like the millionth time.

“Really, it’s my pleasure, Mrs. Konecny.”

His mother was disgustingly charmed. “Terri is fine, dear.”

“Just let him, there’s no changing his mind. Now. What’s the most expensive thing on the menu.”

Again he got an elbow in his side.

“So, Nolan -”

-

Travis tugged Nolan by the sleeve before he could even toe off both shoes at the door. He raised an eyebrow in TK’s direction but straightened. Chase smirked at them from where he was hanging up his coat.

“I’ll leave you boys to your - canoodling. Do hurry.”

Travis swatted at him half heartedly with the hand that wasn’t clutching Nolan’s sleeve, but his brother just snickered and dodged it, continuing after their parents into the living room.

When he left, Travis tugged Nolan into the coat closet just off the entryway, hitting the light switch on the way in.

“Well, this is cozy,” Patty observed dryly, looking around them. It was cramped, and the light was flickering, but it would do for now.

“I don’t want them to hear.”

“So you think pulling me into a closet was a good idea. Your brother is going to chirp the shit out of you for this.”

Travis waved that off along with the thoughts of what he’d very much enjoy doing with Patty in a closet. They were barely a breath apart, Travis being forced to stare up at Patty. “I wanted to talk to you without them.”

“Talk away, then.”

Travis twisted his hands together - with how close they were standing, his fingers brushed against the waistband of Patty’s jeans. Ignoring the way Patty startled, Travis floundered a little when he tried to speak; he wasn’t usually the one that had to find the right words to say, never had to properly think through his words before he spoke them - even if he probably should, a voice that sounded like Lawson said in his ear. Patty was patient with him now, though, which was a strange role reversal.

“Thank you for this,” Travis settled on, voice a whisper, wanting to make sure they definitely weren’t overheard. He didn’t need to speak loudly, anyway. “I know you can’t stay for too long because of your game later, but it means a lot that you went to brunch with us.”

Patty looked at him for a long moment before dragging him into a hug. He was startled, too shocked at Nolan being the one to initiate contact to hug back for a second, before he felt himself melt against Patty’s broad chest.

“You don’t have to thank me, Teeks.” The words brushed his skin, Patty’s head resting where TK’s shoulder met his neck - he couldn’t hold back the shiver, but tightened his hold around Patty’s slim waist. 

“I know, I know, I’m doing you a favor as well,” Travis sighed, pulling back slightly but not stepping out of Patty’s hold. There wasn’t room in the closet to completely separate, anyway. He doesn’t meet his eyes, instead focusing on where the top button of Patty’s shirt was undone. A finger under his chin tilted his head back, though, until he was staring into warm eyes.

“Travis,” Patty breathed gently. His thumb swiped back and forth against Travis’s chin, before moving to cradle his jaw, fingers burning a trail across flesh. Travis couldn’t be imagining the way Patty’s eyes darted down to his lips; this wasn’t how you touched a friend, no matter how free Travis tended to be with his affection. Patty wasn’t as comfortable with touch, and he definitely didn’t cradle Kevin’s face in his hands like this. “You have to know I’d do this even if you weren’t doing me a favor, too.”

The moment was almost too intense to handle; Patty inhaled sharply, eyes flickering once more to TK’s lips.

He was leaning in - there was no other explanation. Patty was leaning in, and he was going to kiss him.

Quickly, every interaction they’d had snapped into place, and Travis was forced to view their friendship through a different lens.

The sex jokes, the comments that seemed like chirps in the moment, the blushing, the way Patty always stood a bit too close, they way he’d - fuck Lawson for putting it into his brain - acted with Carter.

Nolan had been flirting the whole time, in his own awkward way.

Nolan had been flirting, and he was leaning in to kiss him. The idea of it seemed preposterous, until Travis thought about it. Thought about how well they got along, how well they complimented each other. Thought about it until it wasn’t so preposterous. Travis raised himself to the balls of his feet, meeting him halfway.

“There you fuckers are.”

At Chase’s voice, and the slam of the closet door against the wall, they sprung apart. Patty was breathing like he’d run a mile, and Travis was no better.

“Found them,” Chase called over his shoulder to their parents. “They were having a quickie in the closet.”

“We weren’t having a quickie in the closet -” Travis tried to deny. 

“Sure, bud,” Chase snickered. “Just come on, Mom wants to harass your boyfriend some more.”

Patty cleared his throat. “Sure.”

He followed Chase without another word.

Fuck.


	11. Chapter 11

It was awkward.

Patty was perfectly fine, acting like nothing happened. It would almost be better if he  _ wasn’t  _ pretending that Chase hadn’t interrupted them kissing in a coat closet; but no, he was still pressed against Travis’s side, still dropping kisses to the top of his head that made Chase snicker, still calling him ‘babe’ and holding his hand and charming his mother. 

But there was an underlying spark of - something. Something that they both knew was there, even if they refused to acknowledge it.

Because that was intent - there was nothing else it could have been. If Travis hadn’t just almost kissed Nolan Patrick and therefore had no grasp on his cognitive functioning he would probably make an ‘intent to injure’ joke. Match penalty for ruining TK’s life, yada yada. But he was barely able to pay attention to the conversation surrounding them, going through the motions almost mechanically. 

A shift in your worldview could do that to you.

“- what do you think, Travis?”

Travis snapped to attention, looking up from where he’d been mindlessly stroking his thumb back and forth on the back of Patty’s hand. 

“Huh?” he said intelligently, blinking at his mother who simply rolled her eyes.

“Nolan offered us tickets to his game tonight. Would you like to go?” his mother repeated. Travis looked from her to Patty, who was blushing and rubbing his neck sheepishly with the hand that wasn’t holding Travis’s.

“I thought they might want to come to a game or two,” Patty shrugged. “We’re home for a couple weeks. You don’t have to if you have dinner plans or something.”

All Travis wanted to do was throw himself into bed and bemoan his entire existence, from birth to imminent death. All he wanted to do was hold Honey and whine out loud to her about all of his problems. But his parents knew that Travis would never turn down Flyers tickets, especially when his boyfriend was their star forward. Even if he really, really wanted to.

“Uh, yeah.” Travis cleared his throat. “Sounds great.”

He was sure at some point he knew who they were playing, but he probably couldn’t list a single NHL team if he tried right now. 

“I’m sorry, I have to head home for a nap,” Patty said, sounding genuinely reluctant to leave, like he was enjoying sitting awkwardly on TK's lumpy sofa talking to parents that were falling steadily in love with him. Even Chase seemed to be charmed, in his own, smug way.

Travis could relate.

“Travis will walk you out,” Chase said with a smirk. “I’ll distract the parents so you can whisper sweet nothings and make out without them overhearing. Try not to stop in the closet again, though. It’s really not big enough for both of you.”

Patty blushed but TK just ignored his brother. Like his ‘intent to injure’ joke, his ‘out of the closet’ joke would have to wait. Anyway, there would be no stopping in the closet because Patty was full on booking it out of there, like just being in Travis's presence was something he couldn't handle.

That wouldn't do at all. Travis wasn't letting Nolan just get away like that; his resolve knocked him out of whatever dissociative state he'd been in. Even if Patty was just attracted to him physically, he wasn't going to almost kiss him and then walk away. He was a grown man and could own up to his actions. If he could fight Tom Wilson he could manage one measly goodbye.

Travis walked quickly across his small living room and met Patty as he was attempting to get his shoes on as quickly as possible.

"Right, you know how it goes," Nolan said, shuffling his feet. With how quickly he shoved them on, Travis was afraid he hadn't even put the right shoes on the correct feet. "Tickets will be waiting for you."

"Thanks," Travis said after a beat. They stared at each other for a moment, until Travis rolled his eyes. Why was he so disgustingly fond of this awkward asshole? He gave in and reached up to place a gentle kiss on Nolan's red cheek. It was warm under his lips.

It wasn’t the first time he’d kissed Patty’s cheek, but this wasn’t a quick or smacking kiss in front of his family. He pulled back slowly, his smile brushing a sharp jaw as he fell back to his heels. He would let Patty get away with this for tonight, but only because he had a nap to get to and a game to play.

"I have to - right. Okay. Bye? Go." Patty stumbled through his goodbye, shaky fingers attempting to zip up his coat. Travis sighed, disgustingly fond again, and knocked his hands out of the way.

"You're a mess, Pat," he laughed lowly, zipping his coat up for him.

“Yeah, I know,” Patty breathed, a slight laugh following his words. “Never claimed not to be one, though.”

“Call me after the game?” Travis asked as he finished zipping Patty’s coat, running his hands across Patty’s broad chest.

“Teeks -” Patty started. 

“We can talk about it later, okay? I’ll let you off for now.”

“You’re so kind.” Nolan’s smirk was a shadow of his usual, but it was better than the frantic look he’d shot Travis while attempting to flee the scene of the crime that was TK’s apartment.

“You know me.” He said it as a joke, a lopsided grin on his face. But Nolan stopped fidgeting long enough to send him a surprisingly earnest look. It wasn’t an expression Travis had seen on his face, yet. Like all other Pat faces, it was devastating. 

“I do,” Nolan said softly, raising a hand to cup TK’s face. He shrugged slightly. “Or, I want to.” 

The hand on his cheek and unexpected honesty made Travis inhale sharply. “Patty -”

Instead of poking him to finish his sentence, Patty leant down and pressed a kiss of his own to the corner of Travis’s mouth. It was a shadow of their first kiss, from what felt like years ago but was barely a few weeks. But - even though his family was in the next room - it was different. Kevin wasn’t here laughing loudly, Lawson wasn’t watching with a raised eyebrow. 

He knew Nolan now. Or, he wanted to. It was almost dangerous how much he wanted to know Nolan.

There was so much more of this man - this beautiful bastard - for Travis to learn. He wanted to know which side of the bed Nolan slept on, if he snored or talked in his sleep. He wanted to know  _ why  _ Nolan wanted Katharine Hepburn to play him in a movie, if he was still a Stars fan, if he was ticklish under his ribs, if he had a playlist of cheerful songs on his phone for rainy days. 

And sure, he wanted to know him biblically as well. He wanted to know how far Patty’s blush spread down his chest. He wanted to know if he was loud, or if he got overwhelmed to the point of near silence. But that was secondary. And that was the part that scared him most.

Maybe it  _ was  _ dangerous. Maybe it  _ was  _ stupid. But it wasn’t the first dangerous and stupid thing Travis had ever done, and it sure as hell wouldn’t be the last. And maybe this one would be worth it.

“Don’t forget your scarf, Pat,” Travis said, instead of vomiting up his thoughts. There would be a time for that. “Your cheeks are red enough without the cold.”

Patty shoved Travis away, reaching for said scarf. He’d almost forgotten it in his haste to leave. “Shut up, asshole. I’ll see you later.”

“Score a goal for me,” Travis said with a grin and nudge to Nolan’s side.

“Never.”

“An assist?”

“Never,” Patty repeated, lips twitching as he suppressed a smile.

“Kevin scored me two,” Travis pouted. “And you can’t even get me one measly assist?”

“Oh, well if  _ Kevin  _ got you two goals, I guess I have to get you an assist.”

Travis laughed, reaching up to pinch Nolan’s cheek. 

“Why do I even  _ like  _ you?” Nolan groaned, wrapping his scarf around his neck.

Before Travis could answer cheekily - his ass, maybe? - his mother called for him.

“Let him go take a nap, dear. You have plenty of time to flirt later.”

Travis rolled his eyes but pat Nolan on the chest one more time. “See you later, bud.” 

Patty sent a sweet, almost shy smile in response. “See ya.”

_ Yeah,  _ Travis thought as he watched the door close behind Nolan. _ It would be worth it. _

Or maybe it wasn’t stupid or dangerous at all. Scary, maybe. The intensity of it was scary. But something that felt like this couldn’t be stupid, right? Travis had done stupid shit his entire life, and swore that none of it had felt as  _ right  _ as this.

Travis was hardly a poet, couldn’t truly put his racing thoughts into words, but he was standing on a precipice of - something. And Nolan - God, if Nolan wasn’t a windstorm come to push him off the edge. 

-

As it turns out, the Flyers were playing the Panthers. So, not a game he was absolutely dying to watch, but a Flyers game was a Flyers game. 

"I didn't realize we'd be seeing a game or I would have brought a Flyers sweatshirt or something," his mom complained. She was complaining for the sake of complaining - a trait Travis had inherited - but instead of calling her out for it he just rolled his eyes and walked into his room.

"Here," he said as he returned, holding out the Flyers jersey he'd just grabbed. "It's Hayesy's, thought you may like to rep your boyfriend."

His mother rolled her eyes back at him. "You're so kind."

"Anyone else want a jersey?" Travis said, turning to the room's other two occupants. He didn’t wait for an answer, already having grabbed two more. He tossed his brother a Giroux jersey and his dad a Voracek jersey; that should make them happy.

“Why aren’t you wearing a Patrick jersey, hm?” Chase smirked, pulling the Giroux jersey over his head. “If Mom has to rep her boyfriend, so do you.”

Travis was lowkey hoping that he could get away with just wearing a sweatshirt, but sighed and went back into his bedroom. The least he could do was wear Nolan’s jersey.

As he shuffled through his jersey drawer to find a Patrick jersey, he paused. This  _ would  _ be a good addition to his ‘Ways To Seduce Patty’ list that he was working on. ‘Wearing your boyfriend’s jersey’ was  _ the  _ seduction technique. He smirked. If Patty was going to be difficult, so would Travis.

-

“How exciting,” his mom smiled widely. She was doing the little mom shimmy. “Glass seats.”

His brother whistled lowly, impressed, and his dad just sipped his shitty arena beer in an impressed manner.

“I think it personally offends him every time I say I don’t need glass seats,” Travis sighed, rolling his eyes. “He’s too much of a hotshot.”

“Think we’ll win?”

“I don’t want to say anything rude about the Panthers, but -” Travis winced.

Chase snorted. “Yes, you do. You always want to say rude things about the Panthers.”

“Not true, I am totally neutral about the Panthers,” Travis argued. “I don’t think about them enough to say rude things.”

Chase laughed again. “Fair enough.”

It was, objectively, a boring game. The Flyers won, which was good. Patty scored, which was good. If they’d lost Travis would be able to send Patty so much shit for losing to the  _ Panthers,  _ but it wasn’t such a win that media would last ages. They probably wouldn’t have to wait that long for Patty to come out, which was good. Travis was exhausted. 

“Mr. Konecny?” a voice said from behind him. Thank God, it hadn’t been that long.

They followed the lanyard’ed man to the locker room, a place that Travis was getting used to. He adjusted his jersey.

_ Here we go. _

The ‘Seduction of Nolan Patrick’ had begun.

“It’ll be a second,” Travis explained, once they’d arrived at the usual hallway outside the locker room. “But it wasn’t a particularly rough or fast game, so they probably won’t need to cool down for a long time.”

“You can say boring,” Chase laughed. “I’m sure your boy toy won’t mind.”

“He’ll be upset if he thinks you got bored by your first Flyers game,” Travis said, staring up at the Gritty decal he was becoming so familiar with. 

“I don’t think we’re allowed to be bored when we have glass seats.”

“They’re on a homestead for a while, I’m sure you’ll get a chance to see a game that isn’t versus the Panthers.”

His mom grabbed one of his hands gently. “I’m so happy for you, Travis. I hope you know that.”

Travis smiled down at his feet. “I’m pretty happy, too.”

“We’re so proud of you.”

“Speak for yourself,” Chase snorted. “I won’t be proud of him until he puts a ring on it.”

“I’ll make sure to sign a prenup,” Travis joked.

“Nah, don’t sign one and then take him for everything he’s worth.”

Travis raised an eyebrow. “Why are we getting a divorce in this hypothetical situation?”

“Because Lawson is the only one who’s managed to put up with you for decades,” Chase ‘explained’.

“Patty’s not as smart as Law, though,” Travis pointed out.

“What does that mean?”

“If Law in all of his infinite intelligence hasn’t left me, why would Patty?”

Chase narrowed his eyes. “You make a good point.”

“I always make good points,” Travis scoffed.

Chase scoffed in return. “I don’t believe that’s true.”

“Oh? Why not?”

“I’ve known you your whole life. There’s a lot of examples to the contrary.”

“At least I’m not heterosexual,” Travis said with pursed lips.

“That’s not as good an argument as you think it is.”

Travis pointed at him with both hands. “You only think that because you’re straight.”

“I can’t, like.” Chase winced. “Say you’re wrong.”

“I win, then,” Travis shrugged.

“What did you win?” his mother asked, looking considerably unimpressed. “I didn’t realize there was a competition.”

“We’re brothers, we’re always competing,” Travis explained like it was obvious.

“Maybe if you learned to respect your elders more we wouldn’t have to compete so much,” Chase responded, picking at his nails.

“You’re literally a year and a half older than me.”

“I had a year and a half of bliss…” Chase sighed dreamily. “And then you came along.”

Travis just rolled his eyes and turned back to Gritty. They’d been having that conversation for years.

“No headlock this time?”

TK turned from Gritty to smile at Patty, who’d just come out of the locker room. “You came just in time, probably. I’m pretty sure Chase was about to grab me.”

“And you would have deserved it,” his brother interjected with a grin.

Travis waved him off and turned back to Patty. “Good game.”

“It was a trash game,” Patty said with an eye roll.

“It was the  _ Panthers,  _ so.” Travis shrugged. “No one was expecting excitement.”

“We play on the 28th and 30th,” Patty said, turning to the Konecny’s. “My family will be in one of the boxes on the 30th, I’m sure there will be room for you guys as well.”

“Well, if we’re in a  _ box…. _ ” Travis said with a cheeky smile.

“Shut up,” Patty said with an eye roll. “You’re uninvited.”

Travis opened his mouth, ready to spew some bullshit back, but Patty’s eyes had dropped. It took a minute to realize he was staring at the ‘19’ on Travis’s sleeve, cheeks rapidly darkening.

Travis smirked, and spun around, proudly showing off the ‘Patrick 19’ on his back. “You like?” he said, doing a little shimmy.

Patty’s eyes were wide, cheeks flushed. He licked his lips and nodded once. “Yeah.”

_ Success. _


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not SUPER happy with this chapter, but c'est la vie!!!

“A box with your family would be lovely,” TK’s mother smiled. Chase was too busy smirking at Nolan to respond, but their dad nodded as well. “We can’t wait to meet them.”

Patty dropped an arm around Travis’s shoulders, conveniently pressed against the 'Patrick' on his back, and smiled crookedly. “They can’t wait to meet you guys, too.”

“Madison and Aimee are you sisters, you said?”

“Madison’s the Riv,” Travis interjected. “Pat said he’d get her to sign my jersey.”

“Are you sure you aren’t with me just to get to my sister?”

“Nah,” Travis waved lazily. “I’m with you for your dazzling personality.”

“Oh, well that’s fine then,” Patty grinned slightly.

Travis opened his mouth to chirp back but was interrupted by a wordless yell from behind their group.

“Tiki Bar!” Kevin yelled, because of course it was Kevin. He smiled widely at TK’s parents while Travis mouthed ‘Tiki Bar’ to himself.

“This is Kevin,” Travis sighed, startling when Kevin pinched his ass gently on his way to greet the Konecny’s.

Kevin stuck out his hand to all three of them, wide grin immediately charming Travis's mother; she was easily charmed by nice hockey players, apparently. Maybe it was left over from his experience with not so nice hockey players.

“Nice jersey, Mama Konecny,” Kevin laughed, noticing the number on her arm.

“It’s Travis’s,” his mom smiled, plucking at the collar. 

“I knew you didn’t throw it away!” Kevin yelled, turning to Travis. He truly  _ was  _ always yelling.

“Yeah, yeah.” Travis rolled his eyes. "My mom likes you, I won't burn it until she leaves."

“I’d offer to sign it, but if it’s Teeks’ jersey don’t worry about it.”

Travis punched him on the shoulder. “What, so you wouldn’t sign a jersey for me? Carter did.”

“Hartsy is pretty much an angel,” Kevin pointed out. 

“You’re not wrong,” Travis laughed.

Nolan’s arm fell to Travis’s waist, drawing him even closer against his side. Two days ago the reaction would have confused Travis, but now he just rolled his eyes.

A pissing contest with Carter fucking Hart of all people.

“Did you enjoy the game?” Kevin asked.

“It was boring as hell,” Travis snorted before his family could answer.

Kevin held up his hands. “They can’t all be the Battle of Pennsylvania, bro.”

“I don’t think G’s blood pressure could take that,” Patty interjected.

Kevin wiggled his eyebrows. “Dunno, he gets pretty randy when it comes to the Pens.”

“Gross,” Patty gagged. 

“We’re going to head home,” Travis’s mom said, looking between the three of them. “It was lovely to meet you, Kevin.”

“Likewise,” Kevin said with another wide grin. Or, the same wide grin. He smiled a  _ lot _ .

Travis straightened. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize we’d be leaving so soon.”

His mom waved him off. “No, don’t worry, sweetheart, the Uber is just for us. We’ll see you tomorrow. Chinese on the sofa, don’t forget.”

“Never.”

She waved a finger at him. “Just because we’re not back home doesn’t mean it’s not still tradition.”

“Nolan is of course invited,” his dad added. 

Nolan ducked his head. “Thank you for the invitation.”

TK’s mother smiled at Nolan, patting the arm that wasn’t wrapped around her son. “Of course, honey.”

Chase hung back when their parents started down the hall to snicker at Travis, nudging him with his elbow. “Can’t believe you just got their blessing to go back to Nolan’s and get nasty.”

Kevin snickered as well. “You totally did.”

Travis groaned. “Both of you can shut up, I don’t want to think about my parents thinking Pat and I are going to have sex.”

“Well, we’re going out, you’re welcome to come with.”

“If I must,” Travis sighed.

Kevin waggled his eyebrows. “Unless you’d rather go back to yours and celebrate the goal Patty scored…?”

TK squeezed his eyes closed, trying not to imagine what it would be like to celebrate a game in Patty's bed. Soon, if his seduction was successful. “Shut up, please.”

“Chase is welcome to come, too, duh,” Kevin added.

Chase bumped knuckles with him. A friendship between them could have disastrous consequences. “Oh, chill, man. Let me text the parents.”

Kevin gave a dramatic bow. “A Christmas Eve Eve bash, if you will.”

Patty pinched at the bridge of his nose. “No Christmas Eve Eve bash, dear God. Last time we had one of those we lost Beezer.”

“I’m not sure I want to know," Travis said suspiciously.

“We found him eventually,” Kevin assured him.

“Good to know.”

“It’s a very long story that I don’t even remember enough to repeat.”

“It was…” Patty winced. “Messy.”

“There were tears involved," Kevin added.

“No Christmas Eve Eve bash, then,” Chase confirmed.

"Best not," Kevin shrugged. "But you're coming, correct?"

Travis wasn’t one to turn down an invitation like that, but gestured to his chest. “Can I at least toss this jersey in your car?”

“Why, you don’t want to rep your boy?” Chase tsked. 

“I’m very happy to 'rep my boy'," Travis said, making quotations with his fingers, because he loved to rep number nineteen. Hopefully soon he'd be able to say that was repping his boy. "But I also don’t really want to go for drinks with Flyers while wearing a Flyers jersey.”

“Fair enough. Sure, bro, you can pick it up some other time.” Travis didn’t mention that he had multiple others and probably wouldn’t even miss this one. Kevin gestured them onward. “Your chariot awaits.”

“What did I say about calling your car a chariot?” Nolan groaned.

“You’ve never said anything about me calling my car a chariot," Kevin protested.

“Well, I am now. Don’t do it.”

Kevin rolled his eyes but otherwise didn’t respond. “Most of the family men are going home, because Christmas, obviously, but there are a few of us losers heading out.”

Travis hummed. “Where are we headed?”

Kevin shrugged. “Dunno yet.” He looked to Travis and Chase. “Any suggestions?”

“Well, I don’t know Philly,” Chase said. “Where do you and Law usually go?”

“Leanne’s place!”

“That’s not the name of the bar-” Travis tried to interrupt.

“It’s perfect,” Kevin continued, like he’d never spoken.

“Leanne’s place?”

“That’s where we had our first date,” Kevin said. Chase looked confused, which was understandable. 

“That’s where we went after we met,” Travis explained. “Kevin offered to buy us drinks for almost killing me. Which he didn’t.”

Kevin huffed. “Only because the bartender flashed her tits at you and gave us two free pitchers.”

“Oh?” Chase smirked.

“Leanne has a -” Travis gestured vaguely. “Thing for me, I guess. And don’t be rude, she didn’t flash her tits at me.”

“Doesn’t she know you’re, you know.” Chase waved his hand in the air.

"I'm what?" Travis smirked, repeating the same gesture.

"Shut up, dumbass."

Travis puckered his lips at Chase. "Love you, too, bro. You think she’d get the hint but-”

“Do you think she’s working tonight?” Kevin asked.

“No, thank God. She’s out of town for Christmas, which is good." It had been a whole thing, Leanne telling Travis and Lawson her plans for Christmas.

"What, you don't want her to find out you're gay?"

Travis turned an unimpressed look to Kevin. "She’s small, blonde and even a homosexual like myself can see that she has nice tits, she’d be bothered by NHLers all night.”

“Okay, true,” Kevin conceded. “Is that a yes to Leanne's place?"

“You know you can go without my permission.”

“Not the same.”

“Then yes,” Travis sighed. “I’ll go with you.”

Kevin cheered.

“Pat, you coming?”

“Yeah, sure,” Patty shrugged.

"Someone has to keep us in line," Kevin grinned.

"You're almost thirty, you should keep yourself in line."

“We’ll leave the chariot here, actually,” Kevin mused, once again ignoring Nolan. “We can just pick it up tomorrow.”

Patty nodded. 

"I'll go introduce Chase to some of the guys," Kevin added. "Meet us in a second?"

Patty nodded again, watching them leave.

“You look good in my jersey,” Patty said lowly once he made sure they were alone, arm falling even lower until his hand was gripping TK’s hip.

Travis turned in his arms. Like this their chests were completely pressed together and he had to look up to meet Patty’s eyes; it was becoming one of his favorite positions. He’d never got off on a size difference, not really, but something about how big Nolan was really really did it for Travis. Maybe that was just a Nolan thing, though. “I like wearing it.”

The hand on TK’s lower back slid lower, tucking into the back pocket of his jeans, making him jump. "A bit forward there, Mr. Patrick? We haven't even gone on a date yet."

"Don't play coy, Konecny, it's not a good look for you." Travis grinned widely, because of course Nolan wasn’t stupid. His seduction plan only took one step, then. He should have known Nolan was the kind of guy to get off on seeing someone they were attracted to in their jersey. Jocks.

"Unlike me in your jersey, apparently," Travis snickered.

Nolan exhaled sharply. "You knew exactly what you were doing when you put that on, don’t even try that."

Travis hummed and hawed. "Maybe, maybe not."

“Is this where I make a joke about you looking better without it?” Nolan said with an eye roll, trying for his usual unimpressed look but failing miserably.

“Maybe,” Travis repeated. “Is this where I make a joke about me wearing nothing but your jersey?”

Nolan looked around them once more before grabbing TK’s arm and tugging him into a nearby supply closet. He shoved him against the door when it closed, fingers flexing where they grasped his hips; the heat of Nolan along his front was overwhelming.

“You know,” Travis drawled, eyes adjusting to the dim lighting. “Nothing savoury usually comes from being dragged into a supply closet.”

“Do you ever shut up?”

“I’m sure you can find a few ways,” TK leered.

“You drive me absolutely fucking crazy,” Nolan sighed, dropping his forehead to Travis’s shoulder.

“Are we really doing this in the Wells Fargo Center?” Travis raised an eyebrow. “I mean, it’s where we met, it seems fitting. I’m not sucking your dick for the first time in a dirty supply closet, though.”

Nolan seemed to choke on air, grip loosening. Travis took the opportunity to flip them, pinning him against the door in a mirror to their previous position. Nolan’s legs had spread slightly to make room for Travis, and it brought their faces closer together. 

Even in the dim lighting of the closet, Travis could see that Nolan's eyes were blown, the blush on his cheeks spreading under his open collar. Travis wanted to mark him, wanted to taste his blush as it spread under his clothes, but he settled for dropping a gentle kiss to his pulse point. At Nolan’s subsequent full body shiver Travis dropped another kiss in the same spot.

“Jesus, Nol,” Travis laughed breathlessly against his neck. “I haven’t even kissed you yet.”

“What are you waiting for?”

Travis hummed. “Maybe a declaration or two?”

“What, you want me to tell you I like like you?” Again, he tried for his usual unimpressed expression but fell short.

“If you do, I would appreciate it.”

“Fine, Travis,” Patty said. “I like like you.”

“I like like you, too,” Travis grinned.

“That’s settled then.”

“Kiss now?” Travis raised his eyebrows.

“If you would be so kind.”

“Maybe I want you to beg?”

“God, shut up.” Patty shoved at him half heartedly, not actually attempting to move him. “You sound like a bad porno.”

Travis ground their hips together, watching Patty’s eyes unfocus slightly. “If I sound like a bad porno, why are you half hard before I’ve even kissed you?”

Patty squeezed his eyes closed. “Travis, you bastard.”

Travis snickered but reached a hand into Nolan’s hair, still wet from his shower, and tugged their mouths together.

Patty made a soft noise in the back of his throat, something private that TK wanted to hear - wanted to taste - every day for the rest of his life. It wasn’t earth shattering, except it kind of was. Time didn’t stop, except it kind of did. Suddenly, this was the only thing Travis ever wanted to do for the rest of his life. He could kiss Patty 24/7 and it wouldn’t be enough.

It was passionate but not dirty. They’d only known each other for a few weeks, but there was a sense of  _ ‘finally’  _ in the kiss, like they were always building up to this, were always going to arrive here. It was always going to be Patty and Travis kissing, even if the location wasn’t optimal.

Patty pulled back with a gasp, breathing like he’d been triple shifted in Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. “We should - Kevin. And your brother.”

“Right.”

Patty leant in for one more kiss; it was soft, almost hesitant, but Travis felt it in his bones.

Travis wished he could find a way to describe Patty that wasn’t overused comparisons, worn out metaphors. A smile like sunshine, stomach turned to butterflies, a laugh like spring. Yada, yada, yada. Shakespeare was never his strong suit; he couldn’t write sonnets, couldn’t write poetry, couldn’t truly use his words the way he wanted to. He wasn’t raised to be gooey or cheesy, but that’s how Patty made him feel. Patty with his gap toothed smile that took a bit more effort than most, but was worth it. 

Patty was worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT HAPPENED AND I MAY NOT BE HAPPY WITH IT BUT IT HAPPENED


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's short but!!! it sets up the next chapter

Chase wolf whistled when he caught a glimpse of their rumpled state; Kevin, obviously knowing their relationship was fake, raised both eyebrows and tried to communicate something with them. Travis wasn’t fluent in Kevin’s eyebrows, but it made Nolan flush slightly - though maybe said flush was leftover from earlier. Pressed against the door of the supply closet, he had blushed deeper than Travis had ever seen, so maybe he was still flustered. Travis liked that thought.

“Did you find another closet to canoodle in?”

“We did, actually,” Travis responded, sticking his nose in the air. “Though my canoodling hasn’t been in the closet since I was sixteen.”

“Since the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals?” Nolan smirked, adjusting his coat slightly.

Chase laughed. “He told you about that?” 

“He wanted me to know before you could tell me,” Patty explained.

“I wanted to control the narrative, okay,” Travis interrupted, hitting him on the shoulder. “I have no idea why you seem to like that story so much.”

“Oh?” Kevin asked, eyebrows saying something again. “Do I get to hear this story?”

Before TK could say that ‘no, Kevin didn’t get to hear that story’, Chase continued. “Travis came out because he said he’d suck Crosby’s dick while we were watching the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals.”

Now it was his brother that got a smack on the shoulder, albeit a tad harder than the hit he’d laid on Patty. “I absolutely didn’t say that, you ass.”

“I was there, you totally did.”

Travis huffed. “Whatever, can we leave?”

“Can’t wait to tell the guys about your coming out story,” Kevin snickered. “I didn’t end up introducing Chase to any of them, by the way. We just talked shit about you while you were getting randy in a closet.”

“Actually, I’ve changed my mind. I suddenly don’t want to be anywhere near any of you.”

“We only have a couple guys going out,” Kevin continued, ignoring Travis. “Most of the marrieds are going home to their loving wives.”

Travis nodded, trying to think about who could be there, and if he wanted to get drunk in front of them. 

“Don’t worry,” Kevin smirked, heading down the hallway. “Pretty sure Hartsy is coming.”

“Does he know about your massive crush on him?” Chase snickered, nudging Travis.

“Probably,” Nolan interjected with a shrug. “He was pretty obvious about it.”

Where was the Patty that had a pissing contest with Carter Hart in front of his entire team? Where was the jealous Patty? Travis had never felt so betrayed in his life. “I’m going to walk away because I’m offended.” He turned to Nolan. “Feel free to stare at my ass.”

“I can’t see your ass with that jersey on,” Nolan pointed out.

“Then feel free to stare at your name and number,” TK leered, getting an eye roll and blush in return.

Kevin mimed vomiting. “Can you two not.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot you were single,” Travis grinned. “Sucks to suck.”

“Actually, it doesn’t,” Nolan added. “That’s his whole problem.”

“Can we go back to talking about TK’s crush on Hartsy?” Kevin whined. No man that big should be able to whine like that.

“If we’re being fair to Travis,” Patty started, which was rich coming from him, who had never been fair to Travis in his life. “I’m pretty sure your heart eyes about Carter are worse.”

Kevin spluttered slightly for a moment, until he sniffed loudly. “I’m going to walk away because I’m offended and  _ none _ of you are allowed to stare at my ass.”

“Hey, I didn’t say anything, I should be allowed to stare at your ass,” Travis protested.

“Fine. You’re welcome to stare at my ass,” Kevin sighed, like letting TK stare at his ass was a hardship. “Chaser, I don’t know you well enough to be objectified by you, but maybe by the end of the night.”

“Very kind of you,” Chase nodded.

“Patty -”

“I have never wanted to stare at someone’s ass less than I want to stare at yours,” Nolan interrupted. 

Travis had never seen Kevin look so offended. “Um, why am I friends with you?”

Nolan raised an eyebrow. “I pay rent?”

“Okay, true, but if you aren’t going to stare at my ass, what’s the point?”

“I’ll stare at your ass enough for both of us,” Travis said solemnly, patting Nolan’s chest. 

Kevin grinned widely. “So I  _ do _ get some of that healthy respect.”

Travis sighed. “If you’d like.”

“Hell fucking yeah, objectify me any day.”

“I hate to interrupt-” someone laughed from behind them. 

“Hartsy,” Kevin’s face lit up, and Travis could see what Nolan meant about heart eyes. “You’ll stare at my ass, right?” 

“Why would he stare at your ass when he could stare at your face and get the same experience?” Nolan said, raising an eyebrow again. Or maybe the eyebrow had been raised the whole time.

“Don’t make me bend and snap in front of you,” Kevin threatened. He’d do it, too, Travis already knew that. He was almost curious as to how it would turn out.

“Could the world handle that?” Nolan deadpanned. 

“I know  _ I  _ couldn’t,” Travis said, bringing a hand dramatically to his heart.

Kevin preened. “If Hartsy and Patty won’t look at my ass, at least I have Teeks.”

“Got you, bro,” Travis laughed, holding out his fist. Kevin nodded his thanks, bringing his fist to meet TK’s.

“Hey, I never said I wouldn’t look at your ass,” Carter protested.

Kevin threw an arm around Carter’s shoulders and nuzzled the side of his head dramatically. “Aw, is Hartsy an ass man?”

Carter shoved him off half heartedly. “I hate you.”

“You don’t.”

Nolan rolled his eyes. “Anyway. Harts, this is Chase, TK’s brother. Chase, Carter.”

They nodded at each other, Carter not moving from underneath Kevin’s arm.

“Who all is coming with us, then?” Kevin asked.

“I think Beezer, Frosty, and Sanny,” Carter answered. “Myesy might come.”

“Wow,” Patty drawled. “What a group.” 

“And I’m assuming Patty, Travis, and Chase?” Carter asked, ignoring Patty. Kevin nodded, jostling him a bit with the arm still around his shoulders. Carter was tall, but he was slim, and Kevin had a few inches and almost forty pounds on him. Next to Kevin, he seemed almost small. “Pretty big group.”

“There are never that many people at the bar we’re going to,” Travis assured him, trying not to feel starstruck. Kevin was good at making people feel comfortable; it was hard to be starstruck around a guy when he’s just been accused of being an ass man.

“Nice.”

“And TK is fine,” Travis said.

“TK,” Carter nodded with a small smile.

“Kevin has a few horrible nicknames for him, if you’d prefer,” Nolan added.

“Hey!” Kevin protested loudly. “My nicknames are fucking incredible.”

“Didn’t you go to college?” Nolan smirked. “You should be able to define the word ‘incredible’.”

“Whatever, at least Hartsy loves his nickname.”

Carter sent him a dirty look. 

“Oh, come on,” Kevin needled. “You’ve warmed up to it.”

Carter sighs deeply. “Acceptance isn’t always synonymous with pleasure.”

“Come on, it’s grown on you,” Kevin nudged him in the side and nuzzled against his ear again. “ _ I’ve _ totally grown on you.”

“Like mold, maybe.”

Kevin’s eyebrows were at it again. “Sexy mold.”

“Can mold be sexy?” Travis asked, tilting his head.

“I’m sexy, and I’m mold.”

Carter had a better unamused expression than Nolan, which TK thought was the best unamused expression he’d ever see. Maybe it was a goalie thing; maybe it was an ‘in response to Kevin’ thing.

“Come on, tell me I’m sexy.”

“Kevin, I’m not going to tell you you’re sexy.”

“I bet I can annoy you enough that you will.”

Carter rolled his eyes, but ignored him to turn back to Travis and Chase. “Thanks for coming.”

“Good game, man,” Travis said, holding out a fist. He could totally be casual with  _ Carter fucking Hart _ . He literally  _ just _ had his tongue in Nolan  _ fucking _ Patrick’s mouth.

“You, too,” Carter responded, bringing his knuckles to meet TK’s; he looked horrified two seconds after he’d spoken. “I mean - not that you played a game -”

“Oh, Hartsy, never change,” Kevin sighed. 

“What, like you’ve never done the same thing,” Carter protested, being dragged down the hallway. 

“I’m too sexy for that shit.”

“I’m not calling you sexy, Hayesy, it’s not going to happen.”

Kevin said something in return that Travis couldn’t make out, and Carter rolled his eyes again, saying something back. TK watched - and heard - as Kevin laughed loudly and slid his arm from Carter’s shoulders to his lower back.

“What’s up with -” Travis started, turning to Nolan and nodding towards the pair who were halfway down the hall. 

Nolan sighed loudly. “Kevin likes to say Carts is like his little brother.”

Chase sent him a look. “As someone with a little brother, I don’t think that’s it. Or like. I hope that’s not it.”

“Could just be a hockey thing,” Travis pointed out. “Hockey can get - pretty homoerotic. Which is funny because it’s so homophobic.”

“It’s best not to ask.”

Travis, who wasn’t known for his ability to ‘not ask’, opened his mouth again but was interrupted by a large body crashing into him. 

“Teeeeeeeks, I missed you!”

“Beezer, how did you miss him, you’ve never even had a conversation with him,” Nolan sighed again. Joel just waved that off.

“I vibe with him,” Joel said, wrapping an arm around TK’s shoulder.

“Aw, thanks, man.” He was weirdly touched that this weird NHLer vibed with him.

Joel clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “No problemo. Are you coming out with us?”

“Yeah.”

“Sick,” Joel said, pulling away and pointing at him with both hands. He seemed to remember something before he could continue, mouth forming a small ‘o’.

“I forgot Frosty, be right back.” He scurried away, Travis staring bemusedly at his back.

“You get used to it,” Patty said with a sigh. Was he always sighing? The way Kevin was always yelling, Patty was always sighing.

“He could have just texted him,” Chase pointed out.

“Honestly, not sure how he forgot him. They’re usually attached at the hip.”

“He was so excited to see me, he left his better half in the showers,” Travis smirked.

“That must be it.”

Again Travis was interrupted by the arrival of Joel, who had returned with Morgan under his arm.

“Okay, back and ready for business.”

“That was fast,” Travis noted.

“He’s always fast when it comes to Frosty,” Laughts, who had followed Frosty and Beezer, added.

Michael Raffl, who Travis hadn’t met yet but was following Scott, snickered and opened his mouth to speak.

“Don’t say it, Raff,” Claude interrupted, joining them. With Sanny and Jake Voracek - another Flyer Travis had met but never really got to speak with - following him, it was getting crowded in the hallway, but Travis couldn’t find it within himself to care.

“You didn’t know what I was going to say,” Raffl said. “You weren’t even here.”

“I know what happens when you and Laughts get going, especially around Beez and Frosty.”

“I have no idea what you mean.”

Claude just sent them a look. It was a very impressive look.

“Fine, fine,” Laughts said with a dramatic sigh. 

“Oh, were we making fun of how long Beezer lasts in bed?” Voracek smirked.

Joel’s loud and indignant ‘Hey!’ echoed down the hall.

“It’s okay, bud,” Claude said, patting him on the shoulder. Joel sighed, seemingly grateful, but by that point Claude was smirking at him, too. “You’re a hockey player, short shifts are your go to.”

“I came out to have a good time and honestly I’m feeling so attacked right now,” Beezer whined.

“Anyway,” Raffl said, turning to Travis and Chase. “I’m assuming you’re TK.”

Travis nodded with a grin. “Nice to meet you, man.”

There were introductions all around, hellos and goodbyes exchanged, until eventually it was only Morgan, Joel, and Travis numero dos left in the hall.

“Where’s Hayesy?” Frosty asked.

“He left with Carts twenty minutes ago,” Nolan explained, pointing a thumb over his shoulder.

“Like,  _ left _ left?”

Patty hummed. “I hope not, we were meant to share an Uber.”

“And I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know where the bar is,” Travis pointed out.

“Quick question. Am I going to regret this?” Chase asked, wincing slightly. 

“Probably,” Sanny shrugged.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for talk about past homophobia/injuries/abuse in Junior hockey. Nothing explicit, but homophobic slurs mentioned as well. Let me know if there are any other things you'd like me to warn for!

Kevin and Carter hadn’t left yet, thankfully; they were huddling together on the sidewalk, talking quietly.

“Hey, fuckers,” Joel yelled, louder than he needed to. “Ready to go?”

“Finally,” Kevin said, dragging out the word. He and Carter separated, Carter taking a few steps back. “I was about to pass out.”

“Why would you pass out?” Morgan asked, his brow furrowed. Travis was already so charmed by how stupid these boys were. He hadn’t been around a group of dumb hockey boys in a very long time, and they seemed to be a group he could grow to love.

“Best not to question him,” Nolan sighed, shaking his head. “He’ll talk more if you do.” 

"Hartsy will listen to me,” Kevin said confidently.

"Is Hartsy only here to prove your points?" 

"Why else would he keep me around?" Carter grinned, shoving his bare hands in his armpits.

"Hey, fuck nuts." Because Kevin either couldn't recognize that Carter was joking or refused to entertain Carter using self deprecation as a punchline. "One, why aren’t you wearing gloves, idiot?”

“I forgot them at home,” Carter shrugged, blowing hot air into his hands.

Kevin huffed. “I get you’re from Edmonton but you’re not immune to the cold.”

Carter rolled his eyes. “Okay, Mom.”

“I’m too young to be a mom,” Kevin whined, grabbing Carter’s hands and attempting to rub warmth into them. His expression cleared after a minute. “Am I at least a MILF?”

“I’m not calling you sexy, Kevin,” Carter sighed. It was obvious he was stifling a smile, though. “It’s not going to happen.”

Kevin huffed. “I will get you to call me sexy, I swear it.”

“You really won’t.”

“You said one, but never two,” Sanny interrupted. 

“Huh?”

“You said, one, why aren’t you wearing gloves, but you never said what number two is.”

“Oh.” Kevin turned to point at Carter. “Two, don't make me list all your good qualities."

"Please don't,” Carter winced.

“Anyway, if you two have stopped flirting, I would like to leave before New Years,” Nolan said, raising his brows.

“We’re not -” Kevin spluttered.

“I’m not -”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Nolan waved away. “Did either of you call a couple Ubers?”

“Yep,” Kevin responded, popping the ‘p’ obnoxiously. “Should be here soon.”

Travis gestured towards his chest. “Before they get here, can I pop this jersey somewhere?”

“Oh, forgot about that,” Kevin said. “Let me -” He was interrupted by a beep, two cars - Travis assumed were their Ubers - pulling up to the curb. Kevin winced. “Sorry, man, may just have to wear it.”

“I’m sure Nolan wouldn’t mind,” Chase said under his breath.

Nolan shrugged through a blush. “Can’t say he’s wrong.”

“Ew, gross,” Kevin said, wrinkling his nose. 

“This is your fault, dude,” Chase pointed out.

“What fucking ever, get in the car.”

They all did as he said, Travis giving the address of the bar to both drivers. It was only kind of embarrassing that he was wearing a Flyers jersey going out with a handful of actual Flyers; Nolan was sending him enough heated looks that he was almost glad he was wearing it.

-

The bar wasn’t busy, because it never was. The first destination was the bar, where more pitchers of piss flavoured beer than seemed necessary were purchased. Nolan just shook his head and ordered a coke.

“I don’t drink,” he explained needlessly, gesturing towards his head. Migraine disorders and alcohol probably weren’t two things to mix.

Travis hummed and ordered a pitcher of coke to share, waving off Nolan's order of a single glass. “Me neither.”

If Nolan was surprised he didn’t show it, just grabbed the two glasses the bartender - who seemed a little starstruck at the group of them - proffered.

While the rest of the group headed for a few of the larger tables, Nolan grabbed Travis by the sleeve and directed him to an empty corner across the room. The booth was private, and far enough away from the rest of the guys that they wouldn’t be able to overhear their conversations but close enough that they could make fun of how progressively drunk they were getting.

“What, you don’t want me to meet your friends?”

“Not when they’re drunk.”

“Am I just leaving my brother, then?”

They both looked over to the table the group chose again. Frosty was already in Joel’s lap, Carter pressed into a corner by a - probably - yelling Kevin, and Chase looked perfectly happy to be sat next to Sanny, both of them gesturing wildly at each other. They were getting along too well for TK’s liking.

“They’re so embarrassing,” Nolan sighed, listening to how rowdy his teammates have already gotten. He turned away pointedly and continued to their booth. 

“Comes with the territory of it being a group of drunk hockey players,” Travis snickered.

“Eh, doesn’t mean I have to look at it.”

“I never got far enough into my hockey career to be a part of that kinda group,” Travis mused. He gestured to his own head. “Like I said, I don’t really drink much anymore, either.”

Travis slid into one side of the booth, Nolan sliding in next to him. Pressed between Nolan and the wall of his local was close enough to a dream come true.

“You know, it’s poor etiquette to sit on the same side of the table as someone.”

“Do you really think I give a fuck about etiquette?” Nolan snorted, filling both of their glasses.

“I was giving you the benefit of the doubt.”

“And besides, that doesn’t count with your boyfriend, everyone knows that,” Nolan said, taking a sip of his coke.

“Boyfriend, am I?”

Nolan choked on his drink, spluttering for a moment. “I mean - I assumed - if you don’t want -”

Travis smiled, putting him out of his misery. “Boyfriend is good. I’m honoured to be your boyfriend.”

“Well. Good.”

Travis dropped a light kiss to his neck, smirking at the way Nolan shivered. "More than good, I think."  


Nolan coughed before changing the subject. “I watched some of your old games.” 

“Oh?” Suddenly TK’s heart was in his throat. He'd been getting better about his past lately, but to know Nolan - _his boyfriend, Nolan Patrick _\- went out of his way to find clips of seventeen year old Travis made his stomach clench.  


Nolan nodded, looking at him from the side of his eye. It was an opening to drop the subject, Travis knew, but eventually he’d need to tell Nolan all of this. Why not in the corner of a bar surrounded by drunk Philadelphia Flyers?

“What you think, then?” Travis asked, shifting so he could face Nolan more head on. Unfortunately that meant they weren’t pressed together anymore, but he did tangle their feet under the table. “Was seventeen year old Travis up to your second overall standards?”

“You were good,” Patty answered honestly.

Travis smiled slightly. “I wasn’t half bad, huh.”

He had been good - that was the worst part. He was good enough to make it in the show, had scouts watching him. But then - well. The rest is history.

“What happened?” Nolan said it simply, once again giving Travis an opening to just say he was injured and move on.

“Got injured,” Travis shrugged. “Couldn’t shake it, had to stop playing.”

He held out his right arm and pulled up the sleeve of his jersey. The scars weren’t as ugly as they had been, and he wasn’t ashamed of the way they looked anymore, but he tried not to stare at them.

“Flexor tendon,” he started, tracing a finger across the back of his hand before turning it palm up. “Complete tear. I’ll always have grip problems. Definitely couldn’t hold a stick.”

Nolan grasped his hand, bringing it to rest in his lap.

“Distal radius fracture,” Travis continued, watching Nolan’s fingers gently thumb the scars on his wrist and forearm. “Took almost a year to regain motion properly. Lots of bolts and screws keeping me together. I’m practically a cyborg, what with all the metal in my wrist.”

“You’re not funny," Nolan sighed. It was almost a knee jerk reaction at this point.  


Travis snorted. “Yeah, I fucking am.”

Nolan shook his head but didn’t halt his fingers.

“Your excuse for being so shit at CoD was that you couldn’t hold a controller right,” he remembered. “I kinda just wrote it off because it was midnight. Was it true?”

“Kind of,” Travis snickered. “I have grip issues sometimes, but it’s definitely not the reason I’m so shit at Call of Duty.”

“Thought so.”

Travis rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Can we go back to my tragic backstory?”

He got a nod of the head in return.

“Grade three concussion.” Nolan sucked in a breath, joking forgotten. The brain wasn't something to fuck around with, and grade three concussions had obvious lasting effects. Nolan knew that intimately. “Fully knocked out for thirty seconds. Apparently watching a mostly unconscious teammate get stretchered off was pretty scarring for some people.”

“Travis…”

He shrugged. “Fucked me up for a while. Still kind of fucks me up, if I’m honest. Memory issues, headaches. That’s why Lawson is so protective of me, I think. For almost a year I could barely speak the effects were so bad.”

“That changed,” Nolan tried to joke.

“It did, yeah,” Travis said with half a smile. “Pretty sure no one thought I’d ever talk again for a bit there, so if you ever get annoyed, remember that.”

“I will.” He was too earnest, eyes wide.  


“But, yeah," Travis cleared his throat. "Pretty detrimental to hockey playing.”

“What happened?”

Travis furrowed his brow. “Thought I was the one with memory issues, bud.”

Nolan shook his head.“That’s - I had injuries in juniors. That’s more than just being boarded by someone who hasn’t learned how to hit properly.”

Travis huffed. “You’re right.”

“You don’t have to tell me.”

“No, I want to.” And he did want to, which was surprising. Who could understand more than another gay hockey player with brain issues?  


There wasn’t anyone around, and anyone that could possibly have overheard already knew he was gay.

“When I was in Juniors,” Travis started, taking a deep breath. “When I was in Juniors, I was outed. I kissed a teammate, got caught, and got outed. Everyone in the O knew. Most people didn’t have a problem with it, but my team -”

“Juniors can be brutal,” Nolan said after Travis had paused for a beat too long.

“Don’t I know it.” TK’s laugh was humourless.  “The kind of hazing every  _ child _ goes through, when they’ve just been taken away from their parents at fourteen, the way they treat anyone who’s different…”

“It’s awful," Nolan said quietly.   


“Were you out to your team? In Juniors?”

Patty shook his head. 

“I don’t think I would have ever come out to them,” Travis confessed.

“But you had no choice.”

Travis took a deep breath. 

“I know there were some teams that weren’t as bad. There are a few teams with players that are voluntarily out. And they aren’t having the same problems I did.” Travis’s hand twitched in Nolan’s, the echo of cut tendons. “I’d always been proud to put on that jersey - until one day I wasn’t anymore. Until my team found out I liked boys. Getting treated like that by your own guys - it’s pretty fucking awful.

“I think if I didn’t have the C, if I wasn’t as good as I was, it would have been worse. Juniors is a lot of kids with a lot to prove in a system that isn’t made for people like me.”

The '_like us’_ was left unsaid.

“And the injury?” 

“What, didn’t watch that?" Travis asked sending him a look.  


“Believe it or not, watching my boyfriend’s career ending injury wasn’t something I wanted to see." The butterflies Travis got at how casually Nolan called him 'boyfriend' almost took over the anxiety in his belly.  


“He - yeah. I was already a target." Travis shrugged. "Captain, top scorer, not a big guy. Lots of people thought I was an easy target.”

“But you weren’t.”

“Nah. He just went a step too far.”

“I’m sorry.”

Travis took a sip of his coke. “You want to know the worst part?”

“What, worse than a career ending injury at seventeen because you liked boys?”

Travis snorted. “He won the Stanley Cup a couple years back.”

“Fuck.”

Travis shook his head. “He won the Cup and I was a million times better than him.”

“Who does he play for?”

“He was just signed by the Blues.” The look he got in return was calculating.

“Would I know him?” 

“You’re not allowed to fight him over something that happened almost ten years ago," Travis said firmly. Nolan raised the hand that wasn't clutching TK's in surrender.  


"I would _never._"

"Nolan..."

“Travis.”

TK sighed. “Davidson.”

Nolan thought for a moment. “William Davidson?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s shit.”

“Like I said. A lot to prove.”

Throughout the entire conversation,  Nolan had been stroking his wrist  with gentle fingers, the scars that were obvious in their contrast to tan skin. His fingertips were gentle and he held TK’s wrist like it was still broken, a tenderness that Travis wasn’t used to. When he brought his wrist to his mouth and placed a soft kiss there, Travis felt his breath catch. 

He jerked his hand back, overwhelmed. 

Growing up playing hockey, tenderness isn’t something you get used to; you’re not raised to be tender, to be soft, to be romantic, especially with another man. But this - Nolan’s gentle touch, the kiss he placed on the scars - felt like every love story he’d ever heard. Sirens in his head, wind knocked out of him. He thought he’d moved past how Juniors affected his capability for the same tenderness, but apparently that wasn’t correct. He wasn’t sure the corner of a dirty bar was the best place for self discovery, but was anywhere?

Apparently surrounding him with raucous hockey players and talking about trauma triggered emotional responses - who would have thought?

The small Lawson that lived in his brain sent him a look.

It’s no mystery that hockey players in North America are so repressed and oftentimes in general pretty fucked up. No one should ever be treated the way kids are treated in the CHL. Abusive atmospheres aren’t the best place to learn empathy. He  _ still  _ had nightmares about the things he had witnessed, the things he’d let his teammates do. 

And apparently it affected his reaction to Nolan holding his fucking hand to the point of pulling away in shock.

But Nolan wasn’t his Juniors team; he wasn’t his coaches ignoring his own teammates calling him a faggot and tripping him up during practice. Travis took a deep breath and placed his hand back in Nolan’s.

Nolan’s face - which had gone through a heartbroken journey that had hurt to look at - cleared. 

“You okay, bud?”

Travis laughed under his breath. “The last time I... _ canoodled _ with a hockey player in front of a large group of other hockey players didn’t go so well.”

“Oh,” Nolan breathed, understanding replacing any remnants of hurt on his face. He pulled his own hand back but Travis tightened his hand as well as he could to make sure he couldn’t.

“Have you ever had a weird minute of self discovery in the back corner of a shady bar?”

“Probably.”

“While sober and holding hands with your newly minted boyfriend?”

“Okay, no,” Nolan conceded. “Not yet at least.”

“It’s kinda weird, I’ll be honest.”

“Thank you for telling me.”

“Picked a weird place to do it, but hey.”

“So when you said I can’t fight Davidson -” Nolan started.  


“Nolan, I swear to God. You’re not allowed to fight Davidson.”

He honest to God pouted. “Not fair.”

“Life isn’t fair, bud.”

Laughing slightly, Nolan returned to tracing his hand and wrist.

“You would have been perfect for the Flyers, you know,” Nolan said softly, not meeting his eyes. "Philly would have loved you.”

This entire conversation had been emotionally draining, but this was the first thing that made his eyes burn.

He sent his boyfriend a half smile. “What a line we would have made, huh?”

Nolan met his eyes with a half smile of his own. “Lindy on one wing, you on the other - unstoppable.”

“Back to playing center then?”

Nolan scoffed. “I’m sure Hayesy can find someone else to put on his wing.”

Travis withdrew his hand from Nolan's to bring both to Nolan's cheeks. Stroking his boyfriend's - _boyfriend's _\- cheeks with both of his thumbs, he said with almost too much honestly, “I would be honoured to accept passes from you.”

“Is that a euphemism? Because if so I don’t want to hear it.” 

Travis rolled his eyes, but took Kevin’s arrival as his cue to leave. Removing his hands from Nolan's face, he reached for his coat and nudged the other man slightly.  


“I’m out.” He turned to Chase who had followed Kevin; apparently they had moved on to shots at some point. “Drink some water.”

“Share a cab?” Nolan asked, standing up. He grabbed his own coat and buttoned it quickly.

Kevin snickered loudly. “I’d hope you’d share an Uber, seeing as you’re going to the same place.”

“Who said we were going to the same place?” Travis responded, raising an eyebrow. He stood and put on his own coat as well, each button covering up more of the Flyers logo.  


“I did," Nolan said, grabbing TK's scarf and winding it around his neck for him.  


“Oh, did you?”

“If you want,” Nolan said, looking at him from under his eyelashes in a very dirty move that no man his size should be able to pull off.

“No sex propositions in public,” Kevin yelled.

“That’s not a rule," Nolan protested.  


“Fine him, boys,” he called over his shoulder to the rest of the group. “Put his name on the board.”

“For what?” Joel yelled back.  


Nolan just groaned and pulled out his phone to presumably call an Uber.

Travis hoped he remembered to change his sheets that week.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been so long since I've updated but !!!!!! 
> 
> Note the rating change (yes, this does have smut now)

“Do you want um. Coffee?” Travis scratched at his temple. “I have milk. And orange juice.”

Nolan sighed with a characteristic bitchy glare. Travis was so fond of that glare. “I’m not here for milk, Trav.”

Travis gasped, bringing a hand to his traitorous fluttering heart. “Do you have  _ ideas on my virtue? _ ”

“And if I do?” Nolan said, arms crossed, leaning a hip casually against TK’s sofa.

“I would say I’m not very virtuous,” Travis admitted with a grin.

“That I guessed,” Nolan said with a reluctant grin in return.

Travis gasped again. “Are you  _ slut shaming me?” _

“I said nothing about slut shaming you!”

“You can slut shame me any day,” Travis leered.

“Jesus Christ, just get naked,” Nolan huffed.

“Romance is dead,” Travis said mournfully. 

Nolan sent him a look. “Oh, sorry, are we  _ making love _ ?”

“Maybe I want rose petals, candles, the whole shebang,” Travis snickered even as he toed his shoes off. He paused for a moment, thinking over what he said, and groaned internally. Now he was thinking about Kevin mere minutes before he was going to see his boyfriend’s dick for the first time. 

Luckily, Nolan was hot enough that Kevin wasn’t a boner killer. Much. Why was he still thinking about Kevin Hayes?

“Next time, then,” Nolan responded, taking his own shoes off.

“You have to get through this one, first,” TK pointed out. 

“Are you going to grade me, teacher?” Nolan smirked. Travis definitely didn’t find it hot.

“No roleplaying allowed in the living room.”

“Are you saying you’re into teacher/student roleplaying in the bedroom?” Nolan sent him a bit of an incredulous look.

“I’m sure I could find a ruler somewhere…” Travis hummed, tapping his finger thoughtfully against his chin. 

“No student/teacher roleplaying, Teeks.”

“Pity. Your legs would look fantastic in knee high socks.” Which - was a thought actually. Patty in a skirt and thigh highs was definitely a thought.

“No student/teacher roleplay,” Patty repeated with a roll of his eyes.

“So you’re saying other roleplaying is on the table,” Travis grinned.

“Travis,” Patty sighed, bitchy glare back in place.

“Well, you have to pass the sex test before we can even discuss kinks,” Travis reminded him.

Patty rolled his eyes again. “Somehow I think I’ll pass the sex test.”

Travis had to kiss him now, tugging him in by a hand on either hip. Nolan’s lips were chapped but soft, and he kissed like he played - firm, commanding, intense - until Travis bit down on his bottom lip and his mouth opened on a gasp. 

“No passing any sex tests if I get jizz stains on the sofa. Law would kill me,” Travis said, pulling away before he let himself go any further; his chest was heaving but his words were even. Unfortunately, they couldn’t kiss in the living room all night, and any dreams he’d had of blowing Nolan on the sofa would never come to fruition. He’d already had to turn the cushions over once for a questionable stain. “Bedroom, bud.”

They made it to the bedroom with minimal struggle, even if they did have to stop and kiss against the wall a few times - TK’s life was truly terrible, he had to stop and kiss his boyfriend against the wall - and for once his bed was empty, his furry children taking solace in Lawson’s bedroom.

Travis sat down on the end of the bed and tugged off his own shirt.

“Strip, big boy,” Travis said, grinning up at Nolan, who paused in unbuttoning his shirt.

“Oh, sorry, did you want a show?” he said dryly.

Travis hummed. “Maybe next time. For now I want you naked and on my bed as quick as possible.”

Nolan inhaled sharply at that, the mood quickly turning from joking to something more heated as he did what TK asked. 

Travis watched with interest as Nolan took his clothes off, even if he wasn’t making a show of it. His body was incredible - he was a professional athlete, and his body reflected that - but that was hardly what made him beautiful.

Before he lost all chill and started naming the things that  _ did  _ make Nolan beautiful, Travis finished getting undressed.

Time slowed as Travis stared down at Nolan, spread out underneath him. His heart was pounding in his chest, and he was almost breathless. This - people didn’t get to be this happy, did they? 

It was a dream - Nolan under him, lips bitten red and pupils blown wide. 

Travis was on fire, burning from the inside; it was all he could do but stare at Nolan, heart seizing up. He’d known Nolan for such a short time that he couldn’t be truly in love with him - but he would be. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that within time he would be.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re beautiful,” he said softly, pressing Nolan into the mattress with his whole body. Patty shivered at his words, and his blush spread even farther down his chest. Travis hummed, because that was interesting. “Do you like that, sweetheart? Do you like it when I call you beautiful?”

“Stop teasing.”

“You haven’t seen teasing yet.”

Nolan’s whine was one of the best things he’d ever heard.

For all the dirty talk, it was still messy, fumbling. First times were never as sexy and perfect as movies and porn made them out to be; at one point, Travis was poised over Nolan’s chest and -

“Did you just  _ burp  _ on my  _ nipple?” _

Travis had to roll off of Patty he was laughing too loudly.

“I’m leaving,” Patty huffed, making moves to stand up.

“Aw, baby, don’t leave me hanging just because I burped on your nipple.”

“Teeks. You  _ burped  _ on my  _ nipple, _ ” Patty said through half a laugh, settling back against the mattress anyway.

“I drank a lot of soda tonight,” Travis pouted, rolling back on top of him. “At least I didn’t burp on your dick?”

“You’d have to touch it to burp on it,” Nolan pointed out.

“Not necessarily,” Travis countered.

“Travis. If you burp on my dick I will rip your balls off and shove them down your throat.”

“Sensing some hostility here...is that anyway to treat the man about to touch your dick?”

“Then  _ touch  _ it, you absolute fuckwad.”

“Because you asked so nicely…” Travis laughed, finally slithering down Nolan’s body.

-

Their first time may have been fumbling and probably the most fun TK has ever had in bed, but their second try was everything he’d dreamt about and more. The way Nolan had looked above him, riding his fingers shamelessly, to how he’d looked underneath him, split open by his cock.

The way his blush tasted as it trailed to his belly button; the way the tears gathered in the corner of his eyelashes, his shuddering gasps as he got closer. 

When he came it was with a silent cry, mouth open and eyes squeezed shut. The sight alone was enough to drive Travis over the edge, biting at Nolan’s chest to muffle the sound - there would definitely be a bruise there for the team to chirp him for, but Travis couldn’t find it within himself to be sorry.

He tried his best not to just collapse on top of Nolan, managing to curl up against his side instead.

“Did I pass?” Nolan said after a moment of sleepy cuddling, voice rough like he’d been the one with a dick down his throat.

“Hm?” Travis looked up from where he was tracing shapes across Nolan’s pecs and abs. Nolan’s eyes were closed even as he spoke.

“The sex test,” Patty elaborated. “Did my second try pass?”

“Babe, your first try passed.”

Nolan hummed and smiled softly. “Good to know.”

“Sorry I burped on your nipple,” Travis snickered.

“Apology-” Nolan yawned. “-accepted.”

“No sleep,” Travis groaned, rolling himself off the bed. “Shower.”

“Have you never heard of  _ afterglow,  _ Teeks?”

“I’ve heard of not wanting to be covered in dried jizz.”

“Okay, point.” Nolan followed him into the bathroom, stumbling a little. He looked thoroughly debauched. 

“Also you should always pee after you have sex.”

“Is that a thing?” Nolan squinted.

“Yes.”

“You’re the one who went to college, I guess.”

Nolan’s eyes were closed again and he was practically asleep on his feet, but he was rumpled and soft and everything TK has ever wanted.

-

The next morning wasn’t awkward like so many other morning afters; it was just them, bickering over the breakfast table. Apparently his omelet making ability wasn’t as good as it could be, even though the ratio of veggies to egg was  _ perfect,  _ thank you very much. But when Travis tangled their feet together under the table, Nolan sent him a soft smile, blushing slightly. He could get used to this, bitching about his cookie abilities and all.

“So when do I get to meet the illustrious Bean Bag properly, then?” Honey was lounging on her bed by the door, the lazy girl, but Bean was always a little more shy when it came to strangers.

The loud meow that came from the doorway was answer enough, though.

“Breakfast time for the beast,” TK said, standing up.

It was obvious that Nolan adored animals of all kinds, even if he claimed not to like cats, and Travis watched as Bee sniffed at him thoughtfully before deciding food was more important than the stranger in her home.

“Do you want to feed her? It’s the best way to endear yourself to her.”

Nolan poured the cupful of dry food into her bowl with a single minded attention that made Travis want to snicker, even as he got a little hot under the collar. Kitchen sex was also a no go, and besides. Nolan had a walk of shame to do.

“You coming around for Chinese later?” Travis asked as he put their dishes in the sink.

“I’ll have to check my calendar,” Nolan responded dryly, giving Bean one last pat before straightening.

Travis sent him a look.

Nolan rolled his eyes. “Yes, dear, I’m coming around for Chinese.”

“Dinner’s at six, feel free to come around before that.” He led Nolan to the door, grabbing Nolan’s coat and scarf for him.

“I was actually wondering if um…you wanted to come to mine?” He sounded nervous, steps stuttering slightly. “There’s a really nice Chinese place around the corner, and my couch is bigger.”

Travis didn’t even want to know what his face was doing - there was no way he wasn’t smiling dopily; there was something about Nolan that just made him  _ weak.  _ “I think my parents would really like that.”

“Can I-” Nolan cleared his throat and stopped at the door. “Your parents brought you your gear.”

“They did,” Travis nodded, handing Nolan his scarf. He didn’t immediately put it on, closing his eyes for a beat like he was bracing himself for something.

“Are you - do you think -”

“Am I going to join a beer league or something?” Travis asked, putting him out of his misery.

Nolan nodded, both obviously relieved that he didn’t have to say it and worried that he’d crossed a line.

Travis inhaled deeply before letting out a harsh breath. “I think I might. I miss the ice.” It wasn’t the first time he’d admitted to missing the ice, but it was still hard to say out loud. He’d gone so long just pretending that hockey didn’t exist at all that saying he missed it always felt wrong, somehow.

"You said you have problems gripping a stick?"

Travis snickered at his double entendre. "Not what I said last night, that's for sure."

Nolan rolled his eyes,

"I have issues with grip sometimes, yeah, but if I find a more casual team I don't think me dropping my stick will matter much."

“I’d like to see you skate,” Pat said quietly, finally wrapping his scarf around his neck.

“Want to go skating with me, Patrick?” He tried to make it into a bit of a joke, but he didn’t think he managed that well. Nolan straightened and looked directly at Travis for the first time since he brought up skating.

“I’d really like that.” The sincerity in his voice shook Travis, eyes dark with emotion. Having his full attention was almost too much, so Travis dropped his eyes to where he was holding Patty’s coat.

"I'd like that, too," he admitted softly.

Nolan grabbed him by the hips and tugged him forward with another soft smile, coat trapped between them, this one a bit cheekier. "And I'm pretty sure Kevin is dying to see you skate."

Travis pushed him away with a small laugh and helped him into his coat. “Maybe Kevin and I could hold hands and skate around the rink at a family skate. It would be very romantic.”

“Don’t say that in front of Kevin, he’d definitely take you up on that.”

“I’m counting on it.”

Patty brought his hands to TK’s cheeks just as Travis was reaching to fix his hat to make sure it was properly covering his ears. “Thanks for breakfast.”

“Even if my eggs were bad?”

“Even if your eggs were bad.” He kissed him gently, a small peck. “Mine for six?”

“Yours for six.” Travis closed his eyes as Patty’s thumb stroked his cheekbone softly. “Sorry I burped on your nipple.”

Nolan shoved his face away. 

  
  



End file.
